Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Intergenerational Risks of Nuclear Energy

  • Reference work entry
Handbook of Risk Theory

Abstract

Nuclear energy is one of the clearest examples of a technology that brings about risks beyond generational borders. These risks emanate particularly from nuclear waste that needs to be isolated from the biosphere for very long periods of time. Principles of intergenerational equity currently underlie waste management policies, arguing that we should not impose undue burdens on future generations. This chapter scrutinizes the way in which such intergenerational equity principles deal with the issue of long-term risks.

The present consensus within the nuclear community is that nuclear waste should be buried in geological repositories rather than kept in surface storage places. This is particularly based on the notion that repositories are believed to be safer in the long run. Such long-term safety seems to be disputable as it relies on great long-term uncertainties which, in turn, necessitate sanctioning a distinction between different future people. Putting distant future generations at a disadvantage does, however, lack solid moral justification, which should urge us to reconsider our temporal moral obligations in the light of recent technological developments. The technological possibility of substantially reducing the waste lifetime through Partitioning and Transmutation (P&T) is believed to challenge geological disposal, thus placing long-term surface storage in a new perspective. P&T is, however, a laboratory-scale technology which means that substantial investment will be required before industrial deployment can take place. Moreover, the deployment of this technology creates additional safety risks and economic burdens for the present generation. Nevertheless, the potential possibility to diminish “undue burdens” for future generations is too relevant to be neglected in discussions on nuclear waste management policies. The question that will furthermore be explored is to what extent should we rely on future technological possibilities in today’s policy-making?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 599.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 849.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Athanasiou T, Baer P (2002) Dead heat: global justice and global warming. Seven Stories Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry B (1999) Sustainability and intergenerational justice. In: Dobson A (ed) Fairness and futurity: essays on environmental sustainability and social justice. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 93–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Beckerman W (1999) Sustainable development and our obligations to future generations. In: Dobson A (ed) Fairness and futurity: essays on environmental sustainability and social justice. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 71–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Beckerman W, Pasek J (2001) Justice, posterity, and the environment. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunn M (2000) The next wave: urgently needed new steps to control warheads and fissile material. Carnegie Non-Proliferation Project, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Harvard Project on Managing the Atom, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunn M. et al. (2001) Interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. Managing the Atom Project, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and Project on Sociotechnics of Nuclear Energy, University of Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • Callahan D (1981) What obligations do we have to future generations? In: Partridge E (ed) Responsibilities to future generations: environmental ethics. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, pp 73–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Caney S (2006) Cosmopolitan justice, responsibility, and global climate change. Leiden J Int Law 18(04):747–775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DOE (1997) Nonproliferation and arms control assessment of weapons-usable material storage and excess plutonium disposition alternatives. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy

    Google Scholar 

  • DOE (2008) Yucca mountain repository license application. Washington, DC: Department of Energy, Licensing Support Network, DEN001592183-MOL.20080501.0021

    Google Scholar 

  • EPA (2005) Public health and environmental radiation protection standards for yucca mountain. 40 CFR Part 197, Part II. Environmental Protection Agency

    Google Scholar 

  • EPA (2008) Public health and environmental radiation protection standards for Yucca Mountain; Final Rule. 40 CFR Part 197, Part III. Washington, DC: Environmental Protection Agency

    Google Scholar 

  • Feinberg J (1981) The right of animals and unborn generations. In: Partridge E (ed) Responsibilities to future generations: environmental ethics. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, pp 139–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner SM (2001) The real tragedy of the commons. Philos Public Aff 30(4):387–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner SM (2003) The pure intergenerational problem. Monist 86(3):481–501

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner SM (2004) Ethics and global climate change. Ethics 114(3):555–600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner SM (2006a) A perfect moral storm: climate change, intergenerational ethics and the problem of moral corruption. Environ Values 15(3):397–413

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner SM (2006b) Why do future generations need protection? Cahier de la Chaire Développement durable EDF–École polytechnique: 1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Golding MP (1981) Obligation to future generations. In: Partridge E (ed) Responsibilities to future generations: environmental ethics. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, pp 61–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosseries A (2002) Intergenerational justice. In: LaFollette H (ed) The Oxford handbook of practical ethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 459–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosseries A (2008) Radiological Protection and Intergenerational Justice. In: Eggermont G, Feltz B (eds) Ethics and radiological protection. Academia-Bruylant, Louvain-la-Neuve, pp 167–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosseries A, Meyer L (eds) (2009) Intergenerational justice. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (1995) The principles of radioactive waste management. In: Radioactive waste safety standards programme. IAEA, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (1998) Interim storage of radioactive waste packages. In: Technical reports series, No 309. IAEA, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (2000) Radioactive waste management – turning options into solutions. IAEA 3rd Scientific Forum, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (2003) The long term storage of radioactive waste: safety and sustainability. In: A Position Paper of International Experts, IAEA, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (2004) Technical implications of partitioning and transmutation in radioactive waste management. IAEA, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (2005) Thorium fuel cycle – Potential benefits and challenges. IAEA, Austria

    Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (2007) IAEA safety glossary, terminology used in nuclear safety and radiation protection. IAEA, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • IAEA-NEA (2010) Uranium 2009: resources, production and demand. In: A joint report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic and Energy Agency. IAEA and NEA-OECD, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Josef Hebert H (2009) Nuclear waste won’t be going to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, Obama official says. Chicago Tribune, March 6

    Google Scholar 

  • Kadak AC (1997) An intergenerational approach to high-level waste disposal. Nucl News 40:49–51

    Google Scholar 

  • KASAM (1988) Ethical aspects on nuclear waste, in SKN Report 29. National Council for Nuclear Waste (KASAM), Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  • KASAM (1999) Nuclear waste – State-of-the-art reports 1998. National Council for Nuclear Waste (KASAM), Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  • KASAM (2005) Nuclear waste state-of-the-art reports 2004. National Council for Nuclear Waste (KASAM), Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  • Macklin R (1981) Can future generations correctly be said to have rights? In: Partridge E (ed) Responsibilities to future generations: environmental ethics. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, pp 151–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer LH (2008) Intergenerational justice. In: Zalta EN (ed) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice-intergenerational/

  • Meyer LH, Roser D (2006) Distributive justice and climate change. The allocation of emission rights. Analyse Kritik 28:241–267

    Google Scholar 

  • NAPA (1997) Deciding for the future: balancing risks, costs, and benefits fairly across generations. A report for the U.S. Department of Energy. National Academy of Public Administration, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • NAS (1994) Management and disposition of excess weapons plutonium. Report of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Sciences, Committee on International Security and Arms Control

    Google Scholar 

  • NEA-OECD (1984) Long-term radiation protection objectives for radioactive waste disposal. Report of a group of experts jointly sponsored by the Radioactive Waste Management Committee and the Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health. Nuclear Energy Agency, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • NEA-OECD (1995) The environmental and ethical basis of geological disposal of long-lived radioactive wastes: a collective opinion of the radioactive waste management committee of the nuclear energy agency. Nuclear Energy Agency, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • NEA-OECD (1999) Progress towards geologic disposal of radioactive waste: where do we stand? An international assessment. Nuclear Energy Agency, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • NEA-OECD (2002) Accelerator-driven systems (ADS) and fast reactors (FR) in advanced nuclear fuel cycles: a comparative study. Nuclear Energy Agency, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton B (1995) Future generations, obligations to. In: Reich WT (ed) Encyclopedia of bioethics, 2nd edn. Macmillan, New York, pp 892–899

    Google Scholar 

  • NRC (1966) Understanding risk: informing decisions in a democratic society. National Research Council (NRC), National Academy Press, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • NRC (1995) Technical basis for Yucca Mountains standards. Committee on the Technical Basis for Yucca Mountains Standards, Board on Radioactive Waste Management, National Research Council, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • NRC (1996) Nuclear wastes: technologies for separations and transmutation. Committee on Separations Technology and Transmutation Systems, Board on Radioactive Waste Management, National Research Council (NRC), Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • NWMO (2005) Choosing a way forward; the future management of Canada’s used nuclear fuel (final study). Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Ottawa (Ontario), Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • Page E (1999) Intergenerational justice and climate change. Polit Stud 47(1):53–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Page E (2006) Climate change, justice and future generations. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Parfit D (1983) Energy policy and the further future: the identity problem. In: MacLean D, Brown PG (eds) Energy and the future. Rowman and Littlefield, Totowa, pp 166–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Parfit D (1984) Reasons and persons, 1987th edn. Clarendon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls J (1971) A theory of justice, revised edition. 1999 edn. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Raz J (1986) Right-based moralities. In: Waldron J (ed) Theories of rights. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 182–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz T (1978) Obligations to posterity. In: Barry B, Sikora I (eds) Obligations to future generations. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, pp 3–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Shrader-Frechette K (1993) Burying uncertainty: risk and the case against geological disposal of nuclear waste. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Shrader-Frechette K (1994) Equity and nuclear waste disposal. J Agric Environ Ethics 7(2):133–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shrader-Frechette K (2005) Mortgaging the future: dumping ethics with nuclear waste. Sci Eng Ethics 11(4):518–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shue H (2003) Climate change. In: Jamieson D (ed) A companion to environmental philosophy. Blackwell, Malden, pp 449–459

    Google Scholar 

  • Skagen Ekeli K (2004) Environmental risks, uncertainty and intergenerational ethics. Environ Values 13(4):421–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoll R, McCombie C (2001) The role of geologic disposal in preventing nuclear proliferation. Paper read at Proceedings of the 9th international high-level radioactive waste management (IHLRWM) conference, Las Vegas

    Google Scholar 

  • Taebi (2011) The morally desirable option for nuclear power production. Philos Technol 24(2):169–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Taebi B, Kadak AC (2010) Intergenerational considerations affecting the future of nuclear power: equity as a framework for assessing fuel cycles. Risk Anal 30(9):1341–1362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taebi B, Kloosterman JL (2008) To recycle or not to recycle? An intergenerational approach to nuclear fuel cycles. Sci Eng Ethics 14(2):177–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tremmel JC (ed) (2006) Handbook of intergenerational justice. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham/Northampton

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandenbosch R, Vandenbosch SE (2007) Nuclear waste stalemate: political and scientific controversies, vol 61. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City

    Google Scholar 

  • WCED (1987) Our common future. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson PD (1999) The nuclear fuel cycle; from ore to wastes, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • WNA. World Nuclear Power Reactors & Uranium Requirements 2010, Information Paper (2 March 2010). World Nuclear Association (WNA) 2011. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/reactors.html

Download references

Acknowledgments

An earlier draft of this chapter was presented at the Energy and Responsibility conference which was held in May 2008 in Knoxville, Tennessee. I wish to thank the audience of that conference and in particular Dennis Arnold. I further wish to thank Ibo van de Poel, Stephen Gardiner, Jan Leen Kloosterman, Dominic Roser, and Lara Pierpoint for their useful comments and corrections. The usual disclaimer with regard to authorial responsibility applies.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Delft University of Technology, P.O. 5015, 2600 GA, Delft, The Netherlands

    Behnam Taebi (Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management)

Authors
  1. Behnam Taebi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Behnam Taebi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy Department Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Sabine Roeser

  2. Philosophy Department, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Sabine Roeser

  3. Human Technology Center, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Rafaela Hillerbrand

  4. Department of Plant Physiology and Forest Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Per Sandin

  5. Section for Philosophy and Ethics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Martin Peterson

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this entry

Cite this entry

Taebi, B. (2012). Intergenerational Risks of Nuclear Energy. In: Roeser, S., Hillerbrand, R., Sandin, P., Peterson, M. (eds) Handbook of Risk Theory. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1433-5_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1433-5_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1432-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1433-5

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation