Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC)

The Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) facilitates the sharing of experience in addressing the societal dimension of radioactive waste management and explores means of ensuring an effective dialogue with the public with a view to strengthening confidence in the decision-making processes. One of the trends that clearly emerges from the NEA discussions is that the time when exchanges between waste management institutions and civil society were confined to rigid mechanisms is over. A more complex interaction is now taking place among players at national, regional and especially at local levels, as large industrial projects are highly dependent on siting and other local considerations, and a broader, more realistic view of decision making is taking shape.

Annual meetings plus national workshops and community visits

The FSC convenes a series of alternating meetings and workshops. The annual meetings include topical sessions on specific issues of interest and are used for planning and to elaborate the lessons learnt from the workshops. The national workshops (also held annually) focus on stakeholder involvement in waste management issues in the host country. A wide spectrum of stakeholders from the host country are invited to express their views on the nature of their involvement and the process by which they are involved. Typically, national workshops are preceded by a visit to a local community.

Countries have been asked to consider the interest and opportunity to host the FSC national workshops. The first workshop in a national context was held in Finland, November 2001. The second workshop took place in Ottawa, Canada, in October 2002, followed by a the third workshop in Belgium, held in November 2003. A fourth workshop was held in Germany in October 2004 and a fifth in Hospitalet, Spain in 2005. The latest FSC workshop in a national context took place in Hungary in November 2006.

Regional development and community support in radioactive waste management
Volume 25, No. 1, 2007

Fostering a durable relationship between a waste management facility and its host community
Volume 25, No. 1, 2007

Forum on Stakeholder Confidence: Spain
Volume 24, No. 1, 2006

FSC studies and reports

Stakeholder Involvement in Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities (2007)
International Lessons Learnt
Significant numbers of nuclear facilities will need to be decommissioned in the coming decades. In this context, NEA member countries are placing increasing emphasis on the involvement of stakeholders in the associated decision procedures. This study reviews decommissioning experience with a view to identifying stakeholder concerns and best practice in addressing them. The lessons learnt about the end of the facility life cycle can also contribute to better foresight in siting and building new facilities.

Fostering a Durable Relationship between a Waste Management Facility and its Host Community (2007)
Adding Value through Design and Process
Any long-term radioactive waste management project is likely to last decades to centuries.  It requires a physical site and will impact in a great variety of ways on the surrounding community over that whole period.  The societal durability of an agreed solution is essential to success.  This report identifies a number of design elements (including functional, cultural and physical features) that favour a durable relationship between the facility and its host community by improving prospects for quality of life across generations.

Stakeholder Issues and Involvement in Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities (2007)
Lessons Learnt from WPDD and FSC Activities and Documentation
Significant numbers of nuclear power plants will reach the end of their operating lives in the coming decades or may be shut down for economic or other reasons. NEA member countries are giving increasing emphasis to the involvement of stakeholders in the decision-making procedures associated with this process. This study reviews decommissioning and dismantling experience in order to identify stakeholder concerns and best practices in addressing them. The lessons learnt about the end of the facility life cycle can contribute to better foresight in siting and building new facilities. Both the NEA Working Party on Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD) and the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) contributed to, and endorsed, this review.

Learning and Adapting to Societal Requirements for Radioactive Waste Management (2004)
Key Findings and Experience of the Forum on Stakeholder Confidence
This report presents a synthesis of the key findings and experience of the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence regarding the governance of long-term radioactive waste management. Most of the main findings are of relevance to all public policy-making processes, not only to radioactive waste management. In this sense, the report reads as a primer on the concrete governance challenges facing complex, collective decision making.

Stepwise Approach to Decision Making for Long-term Radioactive Waste Management (2004)
Experience, Issues and Guiding Principles
This review of stepwise decision making for long-term RWM pinpoints its current status, highlights its societal dimension and identifies implementation issues from both the point of view of social research and RWM practitioners. There is convergence between these two perspectives, and general guiding principles and action goals are proposed as a basis for further discussion and development of the stepwise decision-making concept.

Stakeholder Involvement Techniques: Short Guide and Annotated Bibliography (2004)
Stakeholder involvement, dialogue and deliberation can improve the quality and the sustainability of policy decisions. There  is a need to let non-specialists form an idea of what is involved in choosing a technique as well as find their way to pertinent documents. This document offers a short guide to stakeholder involvement techniques and their selection. It includes an annotated bibliography pointing to easily accessible handbooks and is intended for any person or organisation considering stakeholder involvement in decision-making.

Public Information, Consultation and Involvement in Radioactive Waste Management (2003)
An International Overview of Approaches and Experiences (pdf, 687 kb)

The Regulator's Evolving Role and Image in Radioactive Waste Management (2003)
Lessons Learnt within the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (pdf, 143 kb)

Vari, A. The mental models approach to risk research: A radioactive waste management perspective
Secretariat Paper (pdf format, 159 kb).

FSC workshop proceedings and summaries

Spanish Community Visit and Workshop
Executive Summary and International Perspective, L'Hospitalet de l'Infant, Catalonia, Spain, 21-23 November 2005 (pdf, 234 kb)

Spanish Community Visit and Workshop
Proceedings of the Workshop "Radioactive Waste Management in Spain: Co-ordination and Projects", L'Hospitalet de l'Infant, Catalonia, Spain, 21-23 November 2005 (link to the OECD bookshop)

Disposal of Radioactive Waste: Forming a New Approach in Germany
FSC Workshop Proceedings, Hitzacker and Hamburg, Germany, 5-8 October 2004
(link to the OECD bookshop)

German Community Visit and Workshop
Summary and International Perspective (pdf, 282 kb)

Belgian Community Visit and Workshop
Summary and International Perspective (pdf, 129 kb)

Belgian Community Visit and Workshop
Proceedings of the Workshop "Dealing with Interests, Values and Knowledge in Managing Risk", Brussels, Belgium, 18-21 November 2003 (link to the OECD bookshop)

Canadian Community Visit and Workshop
Summary and International Perspective (pdf, 133 kb)

Canadian Community Visit and Workshop
Proceedings of the Workshop "Public Confidence in the Management of Radioactive Waste: The Canadian Context", Ottawa, Canada, 14-18 October 2002 (link to the OECD bookshop)

Finland Community Visit and Workshop:
Executive Summary and International Perspective (pdf, 80 kb)

Finland Community Visit and Workshop
Proceedings of the Workshop "Stepwise Decision Making in Finland for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel", Turku, Finland, 15-16 November 2001 (link to the OECD bookshop)

Paris Workshop
Proceedings of the FSC Launch Workshop "Stakeholder Confidence and Radioactive Waste Disposal", Paris, France, 28-31 August 2000(pdf, 694 kb)

FSC Topical sessions

Organisational Change: Cultural and Structural Aspects
Proceedings of a Topical Session held during the 7th Session of the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence, 7-9 June 2006, Paris, France (pdf, 685 kb)

Experience with Electronic, Web and Internet Platforms for Communicating on Radioactive Waste Management
Proceedings of a Topical Session held during the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence, 2006 (pdf, 450 kb)

Media Relations
Proceedings of Topical Sessions on Media Relations held during the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence meetings in 2004 and 2005 (pdf, 3.3 mb)

The Link Between Research, Development and Demonstration and Stakeholder Confidence
Proceedings of a Topical Session held during the Sixth Meeting of the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence, 2006 (pdf, 263 kb)

Addressing Issues Raised by Stakeholders: Impacts on Process, Content, and Behaviour in Waste Management Organisations
Proceedings of a Topical Session held during the Fifth meeting of the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence, 2004 (pdf, 625kb)

Stakeholder Involvement Tools: Criteria for Choice and Evaluation
Proceedings of a Topical Session held during the Fourth meeting of the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence, 2003 (pdf, 211 kb)

Background to the FSC

Strategic Directions of the RWMC Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (pdf, 11 kb)

Related links

Future Human Actions at Disposal Sites
A Report of the NEA Working Group on Assessment of Future Human Actions at Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites, 1995 (pdf, 4.9 mb)

NEA Working Party on Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD)

NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC)

E-mail contact: claudio.pescatore@oecd.org

Last update: 16 April 2008