Locals in the Wasteland: The Non-Intended Side Effects of (In)Sensible Local Participatory Technology Development.

Implementing high-level radioactive wastes programs on a territory remain a sensitive step for nuclear waste management organizations. At this stage, the preferred solution of radioactive wastes programs (geological disposal) and their technological developments become highly visible and this is why the new instruments and strategies such as participatory technology development (PDT) have been adopted to tackle the territorial development of geological disposal technology.

Considering the coproduction between territory and program (Jasanoff 2004), this presentation focuses on two siting processes of radioactive wastes programs, in France and in Canada to analyze the influence of in(sensible) local participatory technology development strategy and the influence of invited critics (Wynne 2007) on the industrial project.

Our results show that frameworks of the participatory technology development have been designed very differently (with or without publics). Consequently, two undesirable, mostly non-intended side effects of information local committees (non) integration have appeared. In France, a closed PDT transformed invited critics as non-invited one. In Canada, a weak engagement of publics has occurred with an opened PDT. In both case, new socio-technical adjustments have occurred in those programs.