Social and Ethical Aspects of Radiation Risk Management

Deborah Oughton is professor in nuclear and environmental chemistry, and research director of the Centre of Environmental Radioactivity, at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB). Since the early 1990s, through the support of the Norwegian Ethics Programme, she has combined a career in science with study and research on the ethical implications of radiation risk. She currently holds an associated professorship in Research Ethics at the University of Oslo, is deputy head of the National Committee on Research Ethics in Science and Technology, and ethics coordinator at UMB. She has published widely in both science and ethics, and has been a strong advocate of putting ethics into practice in radiation risk management. Sven Ove Hansson, professor in philosophy, is a leading expert in the ethics of risk and one of the few moral philosophers who have written extensively on the ethics of radiation protection. In addition to being a moral philosopher, he is also a logician and a decision theorist. He is editor-in-chief of Theoria and editor of the book series Studia Logica Library: Outstanding Contributions. He is a member of the editorial boards of Synthese, Studia Logica, and the Journal of Philosophical Logic; member of the scientific editorial board of Philosophy & Technology; and area editor of the book series Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning. His books include The Structure of Values and Norms and Ethics at Peril. He is the author of well over 250 articles in refereed journals. He is member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) and President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology.

"…quick and easy to read, as the chapters are quite short and do not contain equations, sophisticated graphs, or very technical language…This book definitely serves its stated purpose: it is indeed a response to the much-needed discussion between the public and government and scientists and stakeholders about radiation risk management." --Health Physics, July 2014

• Preface1. IntroductionPart I. Ethical principles for radiation protection2. Radiation risks and the ICRP3. Moral thinking and radiation protection4. A cross-cultural approach to radiation ethics5. Ethical aspects of ecological risks from radiation6. Why chemical risk assessment can learn from radiation protectionPart II. Putting protection to practice7. Ethical issues in clinical radiology8. Ethics in practice – protecting workers9. ALARA: What is reasonably achievable?Part III. Nuclear accidents and how to prevent them10. Lessons learned from the Chernobyl accident in Norway11. Lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster12. Environmental injustice in radiation dose standards13. Safety culture and safety qualityPart IV. Proliferation and the nuclear fuel cycle14. The legacies of Soviet nuclear testing in Kazakhstan15. Moral dilemmas of uranium and thorium fuel cyclesPart V. Public participation16. Social identities and public uptake of science17. Stakeholder Engagement in regaining living conditions after Chernobyl18. Public Participation – potential and pitfalls19. Can radwaste host communities be compensated without being bribed?Index