The foundation for work related to nuclear waste management is laid by laws and outlines e.g. the responsibilities of the reactor owners and the state, as represented by the authorities. The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB), as well as Posiva Oy in Finland, were set up by the reactor owners in the respective countries in response to the responsibilities of planning, conducting research and to implement the physical structures leading to a safe management of nuclear wastes.

The objective of the RISCOM II project is to share the knowledge of the context of radioactive waste management in various European countries and to see to what extent it is possible to apply more widely the RISCOM Model (Andersson et al., 1998) in order to improve the acceptability of radioactive waste management. Thus, the project aims to promote the development of processes involving transparency, as well as means involving greater participation of the public.