Managing Radioactive Waste Problems and Challenges in a Globalizing World

Transcription

1 Managing Radioactive Waste Problems and Challenges in a Globalizing World December 2009 CEFOS - Centre for Public Sector Research University of Gothenburg, SWEDEN Matti Kojo Doctoral Candidate Department of Political Science and International Relations University of Tampere Finland matti.kojo(a)uta.fi Abstract The styles of the Finnish nuclear waste policy The Finnish government determined the aims and schedule for nuclear waste management in Nearly three decades later spent nuclear fuel (SNF) management is approaching the construction licencing phase of the repository, on schedule. The parliamentary decision on the final disposal of SNF was taken almost unanimously in The location of the SNF facility was chosen at the same time. The smoothness of this raises questions about the main factors behind the progress in Finland. The aim of the paper is to analyse the Finnish nuclear waste policy from the point of view of policy style. In the paper policy style is defined as the interaction between (a) the government s approach to problem-solving and (b) the relationship between government and the other actors in policy process. According to this definition by Richardson, Gustafsson and Jordan, the focus of style is both on policymaking and on implementation. The policy style approach is used to identify the standard operating procedures of Finnish nuclear waste policy. The paper aims to contribute to the discussion on the formation of national nuclear waste policy and its institutions by analysing the Finnish case. 1. Introduction The aim of the paper is to analyse the participatory turn in the Finnish spent nuclear fuel (SNF) repository siting process. The focus is on the long-term changes of policy styles of the nuclear waste management company responsible for implementing the site investigations in the candidate municipalities. The nuclear waste management company faced a task in which it 1

2 needed to build up acceptance at local level for Finnish nuclear waste policy, particularly for the site selection. The task of the company can be understood with the help of site selection strategy (see Sundqvist 2002, 110), which in turn shapes how the relationship between the company and its operational environment was arranged. The company needed to adjust its strategy and activity not only due to changes in nuclear waste policy but also due to variations in local contexts over time. During the last two decades actors involved in nuclear waste management have adopted a new approach emphasizing public participation, openness and transparency. This new approach has also included voluntariness with a focus on existing nuclear communities (Bergmans et al. 2008, 61 67). This gradual turn took place in the Finnish nuclear waste management in the 1990s (Kojo 2005; Kojo 2006) but perhaps not so comprehensively compared to international developments. The most studied phase of the turn in Finland has been the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure implemented by the nuclear waste management company Posiva in (Hokkanen 1999; Hokkanen 2001; Leskinen and Turtiainen 2002; Hokkanen and Kojo 2003, 41 54; Kojo and Hokkanen 2004; Hokkanen 2007; Lehtonen 2009). The policy style and societal norms promoted with the EIA procedure, however, were not the only style and norms applied in the Finnish siting process. The analysis of the local negotiation on compensation between the municipality of Eurajoki and the Finnish nuclear industry suggests that there were also other styles and norms (Kojo 2009b). The paper covers the period from the early 1980s to January The site selection process started in the early 1980s due to a governmental decision of According to the decision the nuclear operators, the waste producers, were obliged to be prepared for the final disposal of SNF in Finland, if necessary. However, the primary alternative was the storage of reprocessed highlevel waste and SNF abroad. The decision of 1983 also set the timetable for the Finnish SNF disposal project. According to the timetable the aim was to select the site by The research period ends with the statement by the municipal council of Eurajoki in January With the positive statement the municipal council decided not to use the veto right granted in the Nuclear Energy Act of Thus the municipality approved the location of the SNF repository. After the favourable statement of the proposed host municipality, which is a precondition for the governmental decision on location of a nuclear facility, the Finnish government issued a positive 2

3 Decision-in-Principle (DiP) in December After the Parliamentary Committee procedure (see Raittila and Suominen 2002) the DiP was ratified by Parliament almost unanimously by 159 votes to 3 in May Due to the long research period the major changes in approach and the new practices following each change can be identified. According Richardson et al. (1982), these new practices could be called standard operating procedures as policymakers tend to develop standardized activity to avoid surprises and to retain control. Although the policy style approach seems to put more emphasis on analysing standard operating procedures than the changes it should be kept in mind that the points at which standards are developed are worth identifying and studying if one wants to understand why changes were made and how the new standards are supposed to work. The approach focused on situation specific style analysis is called style-conscious politics. However it is not possible to analyse the policy styles of the whole research period in all details in the scope of this paper. The participatory turn in Finnish nuclear waste management is studied in the framework of policy style. The aim is to identify standard operating procedures and the phases when these operating procedures changed. The advantage of policy style is that the focus is not merely on nuclear waste policy but also on execution. When studying Finnish nuclear waste management this is extremely important, as execution is in the hands of the licensees under waste obligation, that is the licensed nuclear operators producing the nuclear waste. 2 The authorities responsible, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) assumed more passive roles regarding public engagement when compared to the nuclear waste management company. However, STUK did reform its style to some extent after the mid- 1990s (see Varjoranta and Hautakangas 2001). At the moment two companies hold licences to operate a nuclear power plant (NPP). These are Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) and Fortum Power and Heat (FPH, before 1999 Imatran Voima, IVO). TVO and IVO established a joint company 1 Parliament ratified the DiP regarding the expansion of the SNF repository in 2002 due to further construction of nuclear power. In Posiva submitted two applications for further expansion of the SNF repository. (see Kojo 2009a; Kojo, Kari and Litmanen 2009; Nurmi, Kojo and Litmanen 2009.) 2 The importance of execution can be described with such terms as degree of ambition and level of freedom, which refer to the idea that an actor is allowed and in some cases willing to do more than required in the legislation concerning public involvement. This was the situation, particularly in preparing the EIA programme, in Finland when Posiva implemented the EIA procedure (see Hokkanen 2001). 3

4 called Posiva in 1995, which has taken care of the research, planning and implementation of SNF management for its owners. Before 1995 companies cooperated under the Nuclear Waste Committee of Power Companies (Ydinjätetoimikunta YJT) established in TVO s Nuclear Waste Office was the main actor in the site investigations in The structure of the paper is as follows. In Section 2 the concept of policy style is discussed. Section 3 is focused on applying the policy style analysis approach to the Finnish site selection process. In Section 4 the Finnish nuclear waste policy is introduced in brief. The focus is on the milestones of nuclear waste policy and how the policy setting changed over time. In Section 5 preliminary observations based on previous work regarding the policy styles are presented. In Section 6 conclusions are drawn. 2. The concept of style The (political science) literature proposes at least three different theoretical approaches to style. If listed according to the level of analysis, the approaches are as follows: 1) the national policy style (Richardson et al. 1982), 2) the sectoral policy style (Richardson et al. 1982; Rüdig 1988) and 3) style-conscious politics (Lappalainen 2002; 2005). The first two approaches refer to style as a manner of doing anything and the third one to style as making a difference (Table 1). Style as a manner refers to (political) routines and behaviour whereas style as a distinctive quality refers to uniqueness and to the art of political style. The three approaches are introduced in brief in this section. Table 1. Theoretical approaches to style analysis. Level Focus Problem National Main characteristics, dominant style Blind to the nuances Sectoral Behaviour in a policy sector Unable to explain why Situational / Contextual Distinction, form-with-content Blind to routines, too detailed According to Richardson, Gustafsson and Grant (1982, 2) policy style should be understood as policy-making and implementation style. Their interest is not limited to policy-making, but they 4

5 also cover policy execution. They are interested in whether societies develop standard operating procedures for making and implementing policies. With this interest they follow the attempts to identify the core characteristics of the policy process in particular countries, which has been one aim of comparative policy studies. The idea behind standard operating procedures is that normative values guide the development of procedures in all policy sectors of a society. Richardson, Gustafsson and Grant (1982, 2) state that legitimizing norms for policy activity reflect deep-rooted values in societies. However, they do note that the match between normative values relating to the policy process and actual behavior is not always close. Thus there may be conflicts between norms and actual practice. There may also be conflicts between the normative values themselves. As an example they use the diverse interests of government in policy practice. On the one hand government should govern and on the other hand it should consult and seek consensus. The fact that there are diverse and conflicting interests suggests that there are also different standard operating procedures that is, different and simultaneous policy styles. However, although Richardson, Gustafsson and Grant (1982, 3, 5) are aware of the difficulties in identifying the main characteristics of the ways in which a society formulates and implements its public policies, they believe that it is possible to identify a predominant style. They state that policies are not so distinctive. Thus a basic simple typology of policy styles could be presented. Richardson, Gustafsson and Grant (1982, 12 13) define policy style as the interaction between (a) the government s approach to problem-solving and (b) the relationship between government and the other actors in policy process. Their primary factors are then government s approaches to problem-solving and government s relationship to other actors in the policymaking and implementing process. With this simple typology (Figure 1.) they hope to account for the core aspects of the policy system in any given country. Simplicity and manageability were the guiding principles as they aimed at increasing the heuristic value of the typology in comparative terms. Thus, factors such as degree of centralization, degree of openness and degree of deliberation were excluded. These two latter factors with transparency are just the ones, which are often reported as main characteristics when trying to reform nuclear waste management to build more trust (Bergmans et al. 2008). 5

6 Figure 1. Typology of policy style (Source: Richardson et al. 1982, 13; see also Parsons 1995, 186) Consensus Relationship Anticipatory / active problem-solving Reactive Problem-solving Imposition Relationship According to Rüdig (1988, 425) the sectoral policy style appeared to be a more useful starting point than the idea of a uniform national style. For example, due to the sectoral approach a common actor network was identified. Richardson et al. (1982, 3) also noted that one of the biggest difficulties in identifying a national dominant style was the phenomenon of the sectorization of policy-making. If policies are formulated independently in each sector, then this may invalidate studying one national policy style. Thus, in the national policy style approach, public engagement, for example, in such Finnish policy sectors as biotechnology (Rask 2003; 2008) and forestry planning (Raitio 2008) should go hand in hand with nuclear waste management, or in more general with the nuclear energy sector in Finland. The comparison between the policy sectors in Finland, not to mention other countries, is a challenge and although a very interesting one beyond the scope of this paper. Furthermore, Rask (2003) demonstrates that there are different paradigms 3 and institutional profiles of citizens participation in Finnish biotechnology policy. According to Rask (2003, 451), the enlightenment and economic paradigms are dominant and the critical paradigm is marginal. Thus three policy 3 Rask (2003, ) argues that when citizens participation is studied as an aspect of the modern governance of science and technology, it is more realistic to conceptualize it as an element within a broader socio-technical system, rather than to see as a policy instrument isolated from the institutional context. According to Rask paradigms (or basic approaches) characterize the various intervening roles of the government. They include diverged conceptions of the key problems in the citizen-s&t relationship, and in the measures relevant to the solution of these problems. Furthermore, Rask (2003, 443) states that as it is exceptional for public policymakers to delegate their decisionmaking power to the various publics, citizens participation in policymaking should be studied realistically as an aspect of knowledge production affecting decision-making. 6

7 styles were identified, permitting the conclusion that there is not just one national policy style in Finnish biotechnology policy. Rüdig reported two main weaknesses of the theories of political style, which applies to both national and sectoral approach. Firstly, the political style does not take adequate account of differences in the resources of actors and their influence on the standard operating procedures themselves and the impact of the routines on material political outcomes. Secondly, concepts of political style are unable to relate the success of styles to differences in the specific technological and political demands. (Rüdig 1988, 425.) The same kind of criticism has also been reported later. According to Parsons (1995, 188) the policy style approach provides a simple but effective framework to compare policy communities both within and between political systems. However, although it offers an insight into the policy-making process, it is less convincing as an explanation of what governments actually do, and with what effects and outcomes. 4 Furthermore, Parsons notes (based on Vogel 1986) that although style may matter in terms of how policy agendas and decisions are made, style may have but a marginal impact on policy output and outcomes. Thus, according to critics, policy style analysis could be applied to descriptive aims, such as demonstrating and comparing the changes but less in explaining why the changes took place at all. One way forward could be the analysis of the art of political style and the art of political judgment. The art of political style is defined as an original and innovative merging of form and content and construction of infrastructure of style (Lappalainen 2002). According to Lappalainen (2005) political style is about making a clear distinction, profiling oneself, it is about convincing various audiences. It is style-conscious politics in a certain context requiring the art of political judgment. According to Lappalainen (2005, 2) the concept of political style is an alternative or an additional approach to the institutionoriented study of the functions and functioning of the political system. The problem in the institution-oriented approach has been the inability or unwillingness to recognise and specify forms of political action located outside the established political institutions, such as various extra-parliamentary movements or political divisions outside the parties. (...) 4 Sager (2001, 52) states that style structure configurations help to explain why particular styles of planning are chosen as responses to organizational dilemmas highlighted in social choice theory. 7

8 The standpoint of style is needed in political science because the prevailing orientations of political science are powerless or unwilling to tackle political events challenging the logic of the functioning of the political system. Lappalainen emphasizes extra-parliamentary and extra-party political activity as the focus of political style analysis. However, one should consider if an organization, for example a nuclear waste management company, is also capable of style-conscious politics. Indeed, a nuclear waste management company may face problems partly similar to those faced by a local movement such as the need for media publicity to make an impression on public opinion although the monetary resources of the actors are not comparable. Lappalainen is interested in novel political activity which he wants to distinguish from political behaviour characterized by routines and habitual conventions. The connection between the policy style analysis by Richardson et al. (1982) and Rüdig (1988) and that by Lappalainen is the infrastructure of style and the art of political judgment. Lappalainen (2005, 14 15) calls the long-standing policy of activities reminiscent of standard operating procedures, an infrastructure of style. According to Lappalainen, infrastructure of style should not be understood as a factor determining activities; it is not an independent variable causing political activities but of actors' own construction. A political actor needs infrastructure of style in building up its general, long-term credibility. Infrastructure is constructed by producing expectations meaning that actors present their (sometimes conflicting) views on future horizons including what kinds of problems will be faced and their severity, and further how these problems could be solved. 3. Applying the political style analysis So far three approaches of policy/political analysis have been briefly introduced. What then should be taken into account when analysing the participatory turn in the Finnish the SNF repository siting process? First, the focus should be on the main actors, such as the nuclear waste management company responsible for its execution. Thus the idea of political style is attached in the first place to an actor. After outlining actors standard operating practices in a certain period (the infrastructure of style) by analysing a number of situations, more general policy styles might be discovered. The level of particularity and universality must be carefully considered, as there is 8

9 on the one hand the danger of describing too general policy styles and thus losing the nuances and on the other hand danger of drowning in nuances, in situationality. Second, studying long-term changes requires strict selection of situations worthy of analysis. A starting point for identifying changes of approach is, for example, the phases of the site selection process (see McEwen and Äikäs 2000). Another option might be to look at the possible crises in the siting process (such as TVO s withdrawal from Ikaalinen in 1986, see Kojo 2006, 65 66) likewise major policy decisions and new legislation and their influence on policy style. It would be particularly important to identify the moments of developing standards and to elucidate the art of political judgment behind them. But even if such moments were identified there would also be a question of availability of research material. 5 Third, the context of style analysis needs to be reconstructed. This means that the development of Finnish nuclear waste policy (Ruostetsaari 1986; Suominen 1999) and the formation of the site selection strategy should be covered (Kojo 2009b). Although the focus is on nuclear waste policy and particularly in the site selection process for the SNF repository, the national and international level cannot be totally excluded. The relation between political system and nuclear waste policy has been studied, for example, by Kemp (1992) and Dawson and Darst (2006). Reports such as the IAEA WATRP 6 evaluation report regarding the Finnish nuclear waste management programme (MTI 1994), European Union and nuclear power questions (Turtiainen 1995) and the Proceedings of the NEA International Seminar 7 in 1995 in Finland (NEA 1995) recall inputs from the international level. However, international input is not a new phenomenon because in the 1970s Finnish nuclear waste policy actors already took part in the IAEA International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE) project in which Finland co-chaired the working group entitled Waste management and disposal (Donelly 1980, 336). In the case of Finland the influence of Swedish nuclear waste management should not be underestimated. 5 For example, the minutes of the Vuojoki Working Group (see Kojo 2009b) in which the local compensation package was negotiated were available for research purposes only after an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court. 6 International Atomic Energy Agency Waste Management Assessment and Review Programme. 7 The NEA seminar entitled Informing the Public about Radioactive Waste Management was held in Finland in

10 For example, the final disposal of SNF based on the use of multiple release barriers was adopted from the Swedish KBS 3 concept. 8 Fourth, candidate municipalities form the local context, which puts the company s art of political judgment to the test. Although it could be argued that nuclear waste policy includes at a certain time the same aims in each candidate municipality, due the varying local perceptions of it, the company may need to adjust its political style to fit local conditions. Table 2. The phases of the site selection process and the selected candidate municipalities. Kannonkoski 10 Phase of the site Candidate municipalities in where investigation sites located selection process DiP application on 26 May 1999 Eurajoki Loviisa (as a secondary site) Eurajoki Kuhmo Konginkangas/ Loviisa 11 Detailed site Äänekoski 9 (since 1997) characterization Eurajoki Kuhmo Konginkangas Hyrynsalmi Sievi Preliminary site characterization 1986 Ikaalinen sites in 66 municipalities 13 Preparation for the preliminary site characterization Lavia 14 Testing of drilling method 8 Public involvement approaches or risk communication of SKB (see Eriksson 2003) and Posiva have not been compared. 9 The municipality of Konginkangas merged with the neighbouring municipality of Äänekoski in January In 1994 TVO investigated the bedrock in Kannonkoski which is the neighbouring municipality of Konginkangas (Litmanen 1994, 91 93). 11 Loviisa was chosen due to the location of NPP units in After the failure in Ikaalinen, TVO carried out discussions in Multia. 13 The Olkiluoto site in Eurajoki was chosen as an exception due to the location of the NPP units. The others were a result of systematic elimination. (McEwen and Äikäs 2000; Kojo 2009b.) 14 TVO announced that only testing of bedrock drilling methods would be carried out. 10

11 4. Milestones in Finnish nuclear waste policy To understand the long-term changes in policy styles of the nuclear waste management company is it essential to know the framework in which the company has been operating. Table 3 presents the milestones of the Finnish nuclear waste policy in brief. This could be called an institutionoriented approach focused on formal changes. Although the nuclear operators IVO and TVO had a committee for cooperation in the research of nuclear waste management it is important to keep in mind that the companies had diverse strategies for SNF management until the amendment of the Nuclear Energy Act in In IVO s SNF management was based on returning SNF to the Soviet Union (and to Russia) under the agreement between the governments of Finland and the Soviet Union signed in 1969 (Kojo 2009b, 163). The governmental policy decision of 1983 compelled TVO to negotiate a reprocessing agreement for the SNF generated in the Olkiluoto NPP, but due to the economic interests of the TVO Board no such agreement was ever signed (Kojo 2009b, ). The establishing of Posiva in 1995 caused the companies to cooperate more closely on the SNF issue. Table 3. Milestones in Finnish nuclear waste policy in MTI established a working party focused on arrangements of NWM Original NPP licenses included requirements of developing NWM 1977 Research on safety of SNF management and final disposal begun as part of the IAEA International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE) project 1978 Governmental decision on arrangements for NWM 1978 Power Companies Nuclear Waste Committee established to plan and lead research work concerning NWM 1983 Governmental decision: the primary alternative for the storage of reprocessed high-level waste or SNF abroad required licence holders to be prepared for final disposal in Finland if necessary timetable for SNF final disposal in Finland 1987 Nuclear Energy Act (incl. local veto right) 1989 Research programmes (JYT programmes) funded by public sector started 1991 Policy decision regarding TVO s SNF management by MTI 1993 Rejection of the NPP application by Parliament 1994 Amendment of the Nuclear Energy Act; ban on export and import 1994 Evaluation report of the Finnish NWM by the IAEA Waste Management Assessment and Review Programme (WATRP) 1994 Act on Environmental Impact Assessment 11

12 1995 Policy decision regarding IVO s SNF management by MTI 1995 Posiva established Implementation of the EIA procedure 1999 Governmental decision on safety concerning final disposal of SNF 1999 Posiva s application for a Decision-in-Principle (capacity of 6500 tu), later same year Posiva s letter to MTI to reduce the capacity to 4000 tu 2000 Decision-in-Principle by the government 2001 Decision-in-Principle ratified by Parliament The site selection process was launched in the early 1980s and legitimized by the governmental policy decision of 1983, which also set the timetable of the process. Since then the site selection process has been influenced, for example, by the Nuclear Energy Act of 1987 vesting the proposed municipality with the right of veto and by the EIA Act of The international level also has influence on the Finnish nuclear waste management. The INFCE project and WATRP evaluation report (MTI 1994) are examples of the international governance of nuclear waste management. Major trends in Finland s international relations may also have repercussions on nuclear waste management. The agreement with the Soviet Union was already mentioned. Finnish EU membership has until these days constantly caused fears of nuclear waste import although the Nuclear Energy Act was amended in 1994 to ban both export and import of nuclear waste. The changes in Finnish nuclear waste policy, whether of international or national origin, have been filtered through the site selection strategy to the site selection process and to local level. However, the local reactions have not been similar in all candidate municipalities in a certain period. Reactions of local opposing groups on the EIA procedure in the late 1990s are a good example of how the nuclear waste management company has faced challenges both from the national (international) level but also from the local level. This dynamic setting has necessitated a capability of adoption and art of political judgment from the nuclear waste management company (Table 4). 12

13 Table 4. Different levels influencing the Finnish site selection process. Level Example of an actor and its activity International IAEA Waste Management Assessment and Review Programme (WATRP) National Parliament Government Nuclear Energy Act of 1987 Governmental decision of 1983 Sectoral Ministry of Trade and Industry Prepares policy decisions Strategic Nuclear Waste Management Company Implementation of the site selection process Local Residents of candidate municipalities Varying perception of SNF issue 5. Long-term policy style changes The author (Kojo 2005) has previously reported the phases of stakeholder involvement in the site selection process as follows: With the permission of the landowner ( ) Negotiations with the local authorities ( ) Remedying the knowledge deficit of the local public ( ) Engaging in two-way communication with local people ( ) The two main arenas of interaction: the EIA procedure and the Vuojoki working group ( ) With the permission of the landowner ( ) The phase is characterized by the fact that the TVO Nuclear Waste Office (TVO) selected the test drilling site without consulting the local level. The style is a classic example of the Decide- Announce-Defend (DAD) strategy, as TVO informed the local authority only one day before the announcement. Although TVO only carried out testing of bedrock drilling methods in the municipality of Lavia, the local opposing reactions forced TVO to reconsider its activity and approach. 13

14 Negotiations with the local authorities ( ) New approach was already applied in 1986 as TVO first contacted the 66 municipalities by letter eliciting the interest of the municipality to host the preliminary site investigation. The 66 municipalities were a result of an earlier investigation, which resulted in a list of 101 possible areas for investigations (in those 66 municipalities). Based on the responses of the municipalities TVO carried out discussions with municipal representatives. According to McEwen and Äikäs (2000) TVO s aim was to ensure local commitment to the site investigation. This was to be achieved by contacting the local representative decision-making system. However, the new approach applied aroused distrust and criticism of TVO and local governments in the municipalities. Remedying the knowledge deficit of the local public ( ) After the selection of the five sites for the preliminary site investigation phase in 1987, TVO started to build up connections not only with local authorities but also with the public. TVO established co-operation groups with the municipalities (with leading civil servants and local politicians, thereby excluding open involvement by the residents) and started to distribute TVO bedrock fact information leaflets to the local decision-makers. TVO also opened local information offices and held open days once or twice a year targeted at residents. Otherwise the company kept a low profile in local publicity. For example, letters-to-the-editor and paid advertisements in the local newspaper were quite rare. Engaging in two-way communication with local people ( ) For the detailed site investigation TVO chose three sites in late Later, in 1997, Loviisa as the location of NPP was chosen, too. The TVO style gained in volume and intensity. New tools/methods were also applied. For example the company began to publish an information leaflet TVO studies as a supplement to local newspapers and local associations were offered an opportunity to invite company researchers to present and discuss nuclear waste management. If the previous phase was characterized by informing activities and information dissemination to the local residents, TVO was now trying to have two-way communication. The focus was no longer on local authorities; it was deemed worthwhile to talk to local residents in an effort to gain local acceptance. 14

15 The two main arenas of interaction: the EIA procedure and the Vuojoki working group ( ) The phase was characterized by orientation to interaction and publicity management. The former was clear in the EIA procedure and the latter was seen in the way Posiva wanted to keep control of what was said in the media about the company and its aims. Thus the one-way awareness raising style adopted by TVO in was firstly intensified and secondly transformed to be more interactive (more anticipatory). During this period the adoption of several diverse styles at the same time was very clear. The corporatist style had been formulated and used since the failure in Ikaalinen in 1986, but now this style, too, got new issues on the agenda as the nuclear industry and the municipality of Eurajoki negotiated on a local compensation package. The negotiations were carried out behind closed doors (Kojo 2009b). Thus the norms guiding this style were different from those guiding the interaction style emphasizing public participation and openness. The enactment of the EIA Act in 1994 was one explanation for the changes. 6. Conclusions Parsons (1995, 184) locates the policy style approach among approaches concerned more with the relational and informal aspects of the policymaking. According to Parsons (1995, 185) the metaphor of a network or community seeks to focus on the pattern of formal and informal contacts and relationships which shape policy agendas and decision-making. The opposite would be the interplay within and between the formal policy-making structures. This tendency is even more clearly seen in the approach of style-conscious politics. Lappalainen (2002; 2005) criticizes the institution-oriented approach for inability or unwillingness to recognize and specify forms of political action located outside the established political institutions. The institution-oriented approach, however, helps to understand the long-term changes of formal policies influencing actors responsibilities and power relations. Originally the actor/activity-oriented approach was developed for analysing extra-parliamentary activity such as new civic movements. However, it is argued in the paper that it is worth applying this approach in analysing the activity of the styleconscious companies, too. The setting in Finnish nuclear waste management is particularly fruitful as it is the nuclear operators that are responsible for execution. The tension due to 15

16 execution was abundantly clear in the candidate municipalities, where some of those affected by the bedrock investigations felt a great distrust of the company. As the municipal councils were vested with the veto right, the nuclear waste company was the one making most effort to gain acceptance for the SNF disposal plan at the local level. The state authorities played a minor role in involving residents in the site selection process. Preliminary results suggest how the policy style of the nuclear waste management company changed in the long-term (Fig. 3). Figure 3. Typology of TVO/Posiva policy styles (adopted from Richardson et al. 1982, 13). Consensus Relationship The two main arenas of interaction: the EIA procedure and the Vuojoki working group ( ) Engaging in two-way Anticipatory / active communication with local people ( ) problem-solving Negotiations with the local authorities ( ) Reactive Problem-solving Remedying the knowledge deficit of the local public ( ) With the permission of the landowner ( ) Imposition Relationship The change seemed to be more evidently from reactive problem-solving towards an anticipatory approach than from an imposition relationship to a consensus relationship. There were also contradictions between the norms behind the policy styles. For example, the interactive style applied in the implementation of the EIA procedure emphasized openness and public participation, whereas the corporatist style, particularly in the compensation negotiations, favoured negotiations behind closed doors between the elected representatives of the municipality and the nuclear industry. However, openness and transparency were not included as criteria in the typology of policy styles by Richardson et al. (1982, 13), making the typology 16

17 rather rough. A general idea of an actor s infrastructure of policy style can be described but the contradiction also raises the question of an actor s degree of commitment to certain policy styles and norms. One needs to analyse the context more in detail to explain why a certain style is favoured in a certain situation. This refers to art of political judgment. In the future the idea of form-with-content could be connected to policy style analysis to form a better understanding of how agenda framing might a part of policy style. Acknowledgment The paper was accomplished within the project "Governance of Finnish Energy Policy-Making: From Governmental Control and Regulation to Market-Based Domination?" research project (no ) of the University of Tampere and the University of Jyväskylä. The project is funded by the research programme Power and Society in Finland of the Academy of Finland. References Bergmans, Anne, Elam, Mark, Kos, Drago, Polic, Marko, Simmons, Peter, Sundqvist, Göran and Walls, John (2008) Wanting the unwanted. Effects of public stakeholder involvement in the longterm management of radioactive waste and the siting of repository facililties. CARL. Dawson, Jane and Darst, Robert (2006) Meeting the Challenge of Permanent Nuclear Waste Disposal in an Expanding Europe: Transparency, Trust and Democracy. Environmental Politics. Vol. 15, No 4, Donelly, Warren (1980) INFCE and US non-profiliration policy. Energy policy. December Eriksson, Mats (2003) Från ingenjörskonst til informatörskonst. Studier av PR and riskkommunikation. Örebro Studies in Media and Communication 2. Örebro universitet, Örebro. Hokkanen, Pekka (2007) Public participation in environmental impact assessment. Acta Universitatis Tamperensis Tampere University Press, Tampere. (in Finnish) Hokkanen, Pekka (2001) EIA and decision-making in search of each other. A case study: EIA of the final disposal nuclear waste in Finland. In Hilding-Rydevik, Tuija (ed.) EIA, large development projects and decision-making in the Nordic countries. Nordregio, R2001:6. Nordregio, Stockholm Hokkanen, Pekka (1999) Much for few and little for many the public participation in the EIA of the final disposal of nuclear waste. In Litmanen, Tapio, Hokkanen, Pekka and Kojo, Matti (eds) Nuclear waste in our hands. The Finnish nuclear waste management and the Finnish society. SoPhi, Jyväskylä (in Finnish) 17

18 Hokkanen, Pekka and Kojo, Matti (2003) How environmental impact assessment influences decision-making. The Finnish Environment 612. Ministry of the Environment, Helsinki. (in Finnish) Kemp, Ray (1992) The politics of radioactive waste disposal. Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York. Kojo, Matti (2009a) The Revival of Nuclear Power in a Strong Administrative State. In Kojo, M. and Litmanen T. (Eds) The Revival of Nuclear Power Policy in Finland. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke Kojo, Matti (2009b) The Strategy of Site Selection for the Spent Nuclear Fuel Repository in Finland. In Kojo, M. and Litmanen T. (Eds) The Revival of Nuclear Power Policy in Finland. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke Kojo, Matti (2006) CARL Country report Finland. May Kojo, Matti (2005) Changing approach: Local participation as part of the site selection process of the final disposal facility for high-level nuclear waste in Finland. The Proceeding of the 10 th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management (ICEM 05). Paper No September 2005, Glasgow, Scotland. Kojo, Matti and Hokkanen, Pekka (2004) EIA procedure and environmental conflict management: public participation in the case of the final disposal facility for nuclear waste. Alue ja ympäristö. Vol 33, No 2, (in Finnish) Kojo, Matti, Kari, Mika and Litmanen, Tapio (2009a) The Socio-Economic and Communication Challenges of Spent Nuclear Fuel Management in Finland. Progress in Nuclear Energy (Article in press). Lappalainen, Pertti (2005) Style as an Approach to Political Activities. A paper prepared for the ECPR workshop New Trends in Cultural Politics April Granada. Lappalainen, Pertti (2002) Art of political style. Vastapaino, Tampere. (in Finnish) Lehtonen, Markku (2009) Deliberative decision-making on nuclear energy in Finland, France and the UK: Influence of micro deliberation in the macro deliberative context. Paper presented at the 9 th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference. Working group 4: Nuclear politics, policy and planning June London. Leskinen, Antti and Turtiainen, Markku (2002) Interactive planning in the EIA of the final disposal facillity for spent nuclear fuel in Finland. Working Report Posiva, Olkiluoto. Litmanen, Tapio (1994) In the bowels of the bedrock, hundreds of meters deep: Local nuclear waste conflicts in Finland. Licenciate s thesis in sociology. Jyväskylä university, Jyväskylä. (in Finnish) McEwen, Tim and Äikäs, Timo (2000) The site selection process for a spent nuclear fuel repository in Finland Summary report. Posiva Posiva Oy, Helsinki. Ministry of Trade and Industry (1994) Evaluation of the Finnish Nuclear Waste Management Programme. Report of the WATRP review team. International Atomic Energy Agency Waste 18

19 Management Assessment and Review Programme. Ministry of Trade and Industry. Energy Department. Reviews B:181. Ministry of Trade and Industry, Helsinki. NEA (1995) Informing the public about radioactive waste management. Proceedings of an NEA International Seminar. Rauma, Finland, June Nuclear Energy Agency, OECD. Nurmi, Anna, Kojo, Matti and Litmanen, Tapio (2009) Questions by the public without replies. The public meetings regarding the expansion of the spent nuclear fuel repository in Eurajoki in University of Jyväskylä. Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy. Working Reports in Sociology. University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä. (in Finnish) Parsons, Wayne (1995) Public Policy. An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis. Edward Edgar, Cheltenham, UK, Lyme, US. Raitio, Kaisa (2008) You can t please everyone Conflict management practices, frames and institutions in Finnish state forests. University of Joensuu, Joensuu. (accessed 20 November 2009) Raittila, Pentti and Suominen, Petteri (2002) Discussion in Parliament and in the media on the decision in principle of the final siting of nuclear waste. Raittila, P., Hokkanen, P, Kojo, M. and Litmanen, T. (eds) Finnish nuclear waste miracle. Tampere University Press, Tampere. (in Finnish) Rask, Mikko (2008) Expansion of Expertise in Governance of Science and Technology. Dissertations of the National Consumer Research Centre 4. National Consumer Research Centre, Helsinki. Rask, Mikko (2003) The problem of citizens participation in Finnish biotechnology policy. Science and Public Policy. Vol. 30, No 6, Richardson, Jeremy, Gustafsson, Gunnel and Jordan, Grant (1982) The Concept of Policy Style. In Richardson, Jeremy (ed.) Policy Styles in Western Europe. George Allen & Unwin, London. Rüdig, Wolfgang (1988) Outcomes of Nuclear Technology Policy: Do Varying Political Styles Make a Difference? Journal of Public Policy. Vol. 7, No 4, Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (1986) Energiapolitiikan päätöksenteon ja hallinnon kehityksestä ja nykytilasta Suomessa. University of Tampere. Department of Political Science. Research reports 85. (in Finnish) Sager, Tore (2001) Planning style and agency properties. Environment and Planning A. Vol. 33, No 3, Sundqvist, Göran (2002) The Bedrock of Opinion. Science, Technology and Society in the Siting of High-Level nuclear Waste. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht / Boston / London. Suominen, Petteri (1999) The development of nuclear waste policy in Finland. In Litmanen, Tapio, Hokkanen, Pekka and Kojo, Matti (eds) Nuclear waste in our hands. The Finnish nuclear waste management and the Finnish society. SoPhi, Jyväskylä (in Finnish) 19

20 Turtiainen, Seija [1995] European Union and nuclear energy questions. Report concerning the effects of the European Union on activity of Teollisuuden Voima Oy. [Helsinki], Teollisuuden Voima. (in Finnish) Varjoranta, Tero and Hautakangas, Helena (2001) Public and media relations: Satisfying expectations. In Investing in trust: Nuclear Regulators and the Public. Workshop Proceedings. 29 November 1 December Paris, France. Nuclear Energy Agency. OECD