Epistemologies of nuclear waste management have historically tended towards a "set it and forget it" framing and mentality. Historically, the best (and worst) ideas of nuclear waste management involved taking nuclear waste, putting it in a place that is as far away from humans (also, other critters and flora) as possible, and then leaving it there. For example, the disposal of nuclear waste off the coast of the Farallon Islands in the United States, in the Asse II mine in Germany, and the design rhetoric around the construction of facilities like Yucca Mountain. This mentality has been true both for both the intentional placement of nuclear waste, as well as accidental releases of radioactive hazards.
Over the years, experts and publics alike have critiqued this "set it and forget it" framing from various angles: safety, security, equity, environmental justice, philosophy, pragmatism, etc. In the past two decades, the norms of procedural details of nuclear waste management have shifted towards community engagement and consent-based siting from a decide-announce-defend (DAD) approach. The definitions of what nuclear waste disposal entails, though, have largely remained unchanged from the "set it and forget" it epistemology. This shift has occurred during a societal paradigm shift of how to address the climate crises, and a larger and more integrated understanding of what inequity looks like around the globe related to industrialization, energy production, and power structures.
In this project, we aim to understand perspectives from those with careers in nuclear waste management from either a technical, social, political, or otherwise background--on the epistemologies of waste management and their historical perspectives on the evolution of the field. We also aim to engage experts in nuclear waste management on their views of concepts related to the management of sensitive artifacts, items, and geographies more broadly (non nuclear): conservation, isolation, protection, consent, stewardship, isolation, and care. We ultimately aim to understand how these experts conceptualize and value these different concepts--theoretically, and within the context of nuclear waste management--towards a discussion of the field as a whole and directions it may consider in the future.