Thematic report on community development and siting

The paper analyses the Finnish spent fuel disposal facility siting from the perspective of community development, issues of fairness, and general factors of success. We found that anticipated positive impacts on host community development were the most important factors of local support. Second, the willingness of main stakeholders to adopt and combine several competing and changing concepts of fairness helped making legitimate decisions. Finally, we can conclude that in addition to important cultural factors which are unique in Finland, a number of siting elements have contributed to the success that are of cross-cultural nature. The paper summarises the lessons learned about the Finnish spent fuel disposal facility siting process regarding the issues of community development, fairness, and the transferability of siting approaches across cultures. It is largely based on information presented within the framework of the OECD Forum of Stakeholder Confidence Workshop held in Turku, Finland, on 15-16 November 2001. (author)