Interaction with Civil Society

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are not research organisations but have a specific concern on RWM safety and are involved in the perspective of the implementation of the UNECE Aarhus Convention which reinforces the requirements of access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. European programmes therefore undertake work to address these requirements through local and national stakeholder engagement activities to enable Civil Society (representative organisations, e.g. Non-Government Organizations, Local Community Partnerships, etc.) to participate in defining their national RD&D programmes and the evaluation of RD&D results in the perspective of safety. 

Interacting with Civil Society is important in this perspective and therefore one objective of EURAD is to allow interactions between WMOs, TSOs, REs and Civil Society Organisations. These interactions will facilitate the translation of scientific/technical results and create the conditions for Civil Society Organisations to express their expectations and views. Such interactions shall improve the mutual understanding on RD&D performed to support the development of safe solutions of processing and disposal of radioactive waste. It shall also contribute to developing ideas, propositions and methodologies on how to interact with Civil Society on scientific and technical results uncertainties (inherently linked to the long timeframes and numerous processes considered for geological disposal), and on how to interact with Civil Society stakeholders in order to promote mutual benefit of the available knowledge, based on cooperation and sharing.