Photo credit: Radu Borcoman

The Nuclear Sector: the Human, Social and Ethical Dimensions

2nd Anglo-French Seminar on “The Nuclear Sector: the Human, Social and Ethical Dimensions”

October 17 2018

UK Embassy in Paris, 35 rue du FaubourgSt Honoré, Paris 8ème

The French Nuclear Energy Society (SFEN), through its technical section « Humanity and Social Sciences », is organizing a Franco-British seminar for young PhD or postdoctoral researchers and academics on “Nuclear Choice”.

 

France and the UK both have an important nuclear industry and are engaged in nuclear projects. It seemed interesting to try to understand, from an academic point of view, the policy decision-making processes and the representations at work in the choice of nuclear power, in the political contexts specific to each country. The research angle is not the techno-economic dimension, which is extensively addressed elsewhere, but the political, philosophical and cultural dimensions in this choice.

PROGRAMME

08.30Registration

Introduction

09.00

Pr John Fyfe, Oxford University & Fanny Bazile (CEA – SFEN ST 17)

Context of the programme: Collaboration in the Nuclear Sector in two major nuclear States

 

09.15 Keynote Speech

Malcolm Grimston – Public Perceptions. It is not (just) about the Science

Kirsty Gogan – Communication, Trust and Credibility

  

Panel 1: Nuclear Energy Public Perceptions

10.00

Matthew Cotton, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography and Environment, University of York

Imagining a Future for Nuclear Power – a qualitative backcasting approach

 

10.15

Shahnaz Hoque, Oxford University

The Nuclear Renaissance

 

10.30

Jeremy Bouillet, Lecturer in Political Sciences, Sciences Po Paris

The Energy Issue: Consensus, Conflict and Politization

 

10.45

Jean-Baptiste Thomas

Nuclear Energy: from acceptance to affirmation? The Benefits from Global Initiatives

11.00 Coffee Break

 

Panel 2: Geographical Issues, Comparative Approaches

11.15 

Claire Le Renard, EDF R&D – The diverging trajectories of Fast Breeder Reactor development in France and the UK (1950-1990s) : a tentative comparison

11.40

Teva Meyer, Postdoctoral research fellow at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon

How territorial Representations influence the evolution of nuclear Energy Policies. Perspectives on Sweden and Germany after Fukushima

12.15 – 13.30Lunch Break 🍽

 

Panel 3: Perception of controversial or conflicting issues: waste management, safety

13.45

Philip Thomas, Professor of Risk Management, University of Bristol

Big nuclear accidents: perceived and actual radiation harm. The finding of the multi-university NREFS project

 

14.15

Diana Paola Moreno Alarcon, PhD candidate, Mines Paris Tech

Ensuring Safety in Nuclear Continuity – A case study of Risk Management

 

14.30

Alicia Barotte – Decision process on radioactive waste management. Evolving legislation in France

 

14.45

Emily Webster – Radioactive Waste Management in UK : Burying the issues ?

 

15.00 Coffee Break

 

15.00 Roundtable Session

 

15.45

Concluding Statements

 

16.00

End of the Seminar