Online – By prior registration at this link – Working language English
Wednesday 12 March 2025, 13:30-16:30 CET
How to make sense of stakeholder disagreement on the sustainability of nuclear power?
The Horizon Europe ECOSENS-project.eu developed and demonstrated a methodology for the lifecycle sustainability assessment of key energy technologies driving Europe’s Green Transition.
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A face-to-face workshop[1] engaged 15 stakeholder participants to select a preferred combination of assessment methodologies, high-level objectives, criteria, and indicators[2]. Later, 40 stakeholders of diverse specialization proceeded to assess the sustainability of intermittent renewables (wind and solar), hydropower, natural gas, and nuclear power[3]. |
The 2024 participative assessment revealed a lack of consensus on 8 indicators concerning nuclear power. The contentious items touch on e.g.: environmental impact of severe accidents, economic cost of decommissioning, and societal control of sensitive materials proliferation.
Join our 12 March 2025 webinar to deliberate the 8 indicators. We will check the observed disagreement, and reflect on its meaning for both sustainability assessment and energy gover-nance. Your input will form part of the final ECOSENS deliverable “Recommendations for an improved methodology to assess sustainability”.
All stakeholders interested in decarbonization, energy policy, safety and sustainability of new nuclear technologies, and/or inclusive governance are welcome. While the footnoted reports are easy to read and accessible, it will be possible to participate without extensive preparation.
After a short presentation of the existing assessment and findings, we will deliberate the 8 specific points of dissensus in successive breakouts (environmental, economic, social), followed by sharing in plenary.
Organized by ECOSENS project social science and technical partners ( Claire Mays, Institut Symlog, France; Marin Constantin, RATEN, Romania; and colleagues moderating breakouts).
Registration through 10 March 2025: Link to registration survey
Questions: workshops@ecosens-project.eu
[1] Mays, C., Fourari, Y., Erden, A. and Constantin, M. (2023) Decarbonizing Europe’s energy system: Checking and choosing indicators for a sustainability assessment. Report of an International Stakeholder Workshop held in Brussels on 30 March 2023, ECOSENS D2.1b.
[2] Constantin M. et al. (2023) Assumptions, models, and methodology for the development of nuclear energy in EU on the next two decades. Working Paper, ECOSENS D2.1.
[3] Constantin M. et al. (2025) Investigation on the sustainability of the entire life cycle of nuclear power (revised January 2025), Assessment results, ECOSENS D2.4.