Final Report: Influence of Local Actors on National Decision-making Processes WP2

Work Package 2 (WP2) focused on the ways in which local stakeholders can influence national decision-making processes on radioactive waste management (RWM). The participants in WP2 were particularly interested in examining how local stakeholders could contribute to national debates. Their interest stemmed from the fact that participants from France, Spain and the United Kingdom — who made up the majority of the WP2 group — were engaged, as stakeholders, in the decision-making processes that were under way in each of those countries. These processes were all due reach key decision points during 2006 and WP2 participants wanted to ensure that outputs from COWAM II would be available to feed into those national discussions. For France, 2006 was the deadline for the revision of the research programmes set by the 1991 Act. For the UK, July 2006 was the deadline for the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management3 to recommend to the government an option or combination of options for the long-term management of higher activity waste. For Spain, COWAM-Spain set up with the participation of key local stakeholders and national actors by the Association of Municipalities in Areas with Nuclear Plants4, had defined early 2006 as a deadline to report the outcomes of their deliberations. WP2 participants have had these deadlines in mind since COWAM II began in 2004.