Search

In Switzerland, the selection procedure for a nuclear waste repository site is characterized by deliberation and debate between different governmental levels, and lay persons and experts. The Swiss democratic model has been adapted in order to allow for direct interaction between the federal authorities and the affected communities. In addition, the rather pragmatic approach to finding solutions to emerging conflicts has contributed to the good progress the site selection procedure has made so far. In this chapter, the authors discuss the basic characteristics of the Swiss approach that have proven helpful so far as well as possible critical issues. They conclude with a discussion on potentials and pitfalls of the future governance ecosystem.

Aktuelle Entwicklungen in der Elektronik, bei Sensoren und Werkstoffen machen es möglich, dass elektronische Geräte direkter mit dem menschlichen Körper verbunden werden können als bisher. Die Fortschritte in der Medizin stellen eine breite Palette von Technologien bereit, von denen sich einige auch für Anwendungen ausserhalb von Therapien eignen. Die vorliegende Studie befasst sich mit sieben Anwendungstypen der nichtmedizinischen Bioelektronik, die sich durch einen unterschiedlichen Grad der Vernetzung von Mensch und Technik auszeichnen. Sie können beispielsweise der Leistungssteigerung oder der Überwachung dienen, beruhigend wirken oder neue Formen der Interaktion mit virtuellen oder augmentierten Realitäten ermöglichen. Weil die Bioelektronik mit dem Gehirn interagieren kann, sind auch Aspekte wie Selbstverständnis, Identität und Authentizität von Interesse. Die interdisziplinäre Studie untersucht Chancen und Risiken der nichtmedizinischen Bioelektronik. Sie erörtert die technisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Grundlagen, analysiert gesellschaftliche, ethische und rechtliche Aspekte und präsentiert Empfehlungen., TA-Swiss, 78, ISBN:978-3-7281-4138-5, ISBN:978-3-7281-4137-8

Uncertainties have a significant influence on the assessment and evaluation of the safety of a repository system for high-level radioactive waste. Significant reasons for uncertainties concerning the safety barriers of a repository are: Conducting experiments on the long-term behaviour of the repository in real time is impossible due to the long assessment period over which the repository is supposed to ensure safety. The extrapolation of results from time-limited experiments, e.g. on the corrosion of container materials, to other temporal dimensions is associated with uncertainties. Uncertainties also stem from differences between experimental situations, e.g. laboratory experiments, and the real conditions in the repository. The interpretation of empirical results can be ambiguous and therefore associated with uncertainties. The development of future impacts on the barriers can only be predicted to a limited extent. Therefore, the future behaviour of the barriers can only be extrapolated into the future to a limited extent on the basis of experience gained in the past and uncertainties remain. The construction and operation of the repository will disturb its natural environment. The geological environment in which the repository is embedded behaves differently from a natural geological system, which in turn is associated with uncertainties. A major source of uncertainties is also the natural inhomogeneity of the geological barrier, which can only be investigated on a sample basis. During excavation and other construction work underground, unforeseen situations are to be expected, which make it necessary to act situationally. The complexity of the disposal path where decisions are interlinked, creates further uncertainties. Last but not least, it is uncertain what further findings on the safety of the repository will be obtained in the future along the disposal path. For safety studies, especially studies on the long-term safety of repository systems, methods and conventions for dealing with uncertainties have become established internationally. In the site selection process, these methods and conventions are questioned and, if necessary, must be further developed so that they ultimately also convince the interested public and scientists from other disciplines. In the workshop, uncertainties will be examined in particular from the perspectives of a civil engineer and of a materials researcher with introductory presentations. This will be followed by a moderated discussion. The workshop will focus on the preliminary safety investigations; however, the discussion can also refer to later phases of the disposal path. The aim of the discussion is to arrive at a common synthesis: Where have good practices for dealing with uncertainties already been established? Where is there still a need for research and clarification? What needs to be considered in the dialogue with the interested public?

Since 2019, transdisciplinary research on the scientifically challenging and often controversially debated topic of nuclear waste management on a larger scale has been carried out for the first time in Germany within the co-operative project “TRANSENS” (http://www.transens.de, last access: 21 October 2021). While various and sometimes diverging definitions and understandings of the term “transdisciplinarity” can be found in the literature (e.g., Klein, 2013), we understand it as a specific type of “problem-orientated” basic research integrating a variety of knowledge bodies, values and expectations coming not only from academia but also from the dialogue with society. We consider transdisciplinarity a reflexive, integrative, methodology-guided scientific principle directed at the solution of a societal problem and related scientific challenges by involving non-specialists and actors from practise. Obviously, the safety of nuclear waste management and particularly of waste disposal is an important concern of stakeholders. For specialists, the Safety Case is an established and well-developed instrument supporting safety-informed decisions in a stepwise disposal programme (OECD/NEA, 2013). The idea of Sicherheitsuntersuchungen (safety evaluations) informing decisions in the German siting process is based on the Safety Case concept. However, different stakeholders and interested persons have different notions and views about safety and different values behind these notions (Röhlig and Eckhardt, 2017). The idea behind the TRANSENS Working Package SAFE is to elicit such views and, if possible, to derive conclusions on optimisation potential for the Safety Case. Specifics and potential challenges of this research and ways to address them include: While transdisciplinary research in many cases involves directly affected individuals and groups, TRANSENS is an application-orientated basic research project which does not aim at interfering with the site selection procedure in Germany. Therefore, our research partners from civil society include permanent groups of interested individuals – but not of stakeholders – recruited in a well-defined process. Transdisciplinary research often starts by performing “co-design”, i.e. by jointly formulating the research question(s), but project “funding logic” requires problem definitions already in the application phase of a project. We attempt to overcome this by working in “theme corridors”, which define overarching research questions but leave leeway for later adjustment within these corridors. Being a complex concept, the Safety Case as such might not be well amenable to non-specialists. We address the problem by (i) taking a stepwise approach starting with a preparatory focus group format involving individuals with “Safety Case experience”; (ii) aiming at continuous involvement of one of the permanent groups mentioned above, allowing focussed and in-depth discussions; (iii) being flexible concerning additional transdisciplinary formats and partnerships. The SAFE Working Package team has successfully completed the focus group format under pandemic conditions and is currently preparing the next steps. Preliminary findings include those related to the tool “Safety Case”, to the feasibility of the focus group format in a transdisciplinary context, to observations concerning social interactions within the focus group, and to the way forward. The SAFE team sees opportunities particularly in discussing aspiration and philosophy of safety demonstration, in reflecting potential disciplinary biases influencing both production and criticism of the Safety Case, and for developing new concepts for the interplay between civil society and experts on this complex and elaborated analytical tools in various transdisciplinary formats.

Activities of future humans can influence the safety of a closed repository. The German safety requirements for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste (EndlSiAnfV, 2020) therefore stipulate that developments induced by future human activities which may become relevant for the safety of the repository system must be taken into account when optimising the repository system and verifying its robustness. The focus here is on inadvertent human intrusion into the repository. Developments that can be induced by present human activities serve as reference developments. Dealing with future human activities is challenging. The uncertainties about anthropogenic developments taking place in the 1 million-year assessment period are overwhelming and can hardly be reduced. Moreover, knowledge about human activities in the future cannot be empirically verified, so that it becomes difficult to differentiate between knowledge and mere opinion (Grunwald, 2007, p. 57). Developments in future human activities are the subject of futures research. In the interdisciplinary experiment “Stress factor human activities”, it was therefore investigated whether findings can be derived from futurology sources that might be useful for optimising the repository system and verifying its robustness. Based on potential impacts on the sealed repository, drivers and trends, future narratives, findings and ideas from technical literature and science fiction as well as experiences in the field of radioactive waste management, 25 scenarios of future human activities that may influence the safety of a repository were derived. The spectrum of scenarios ranges from “drift into failure” in uses of the geological subsurface to attacks targeting the repository. It includes biological, chemical and physical impacts on the repository. In addition to direct impacts, those that occur slowly and possibly unnoticed are also addressed. From today's point of view, climate change and the endeavour to open up new reserves of raw materials and energy are important drivers. The distinction between intended and unintended activities is often not clear-cut. The experiment confirms that scenario development is ridden with prerequisites and is necessarily interdisciplinary. Different methodological approaches have to be combined, prerequisites and assumptions have to be clearly identified. Due to the limited time horizon of futures research, it is necessary to continually adapt and update scenarios of future human activities in the sense of a “learning process” with new findings and developments. Although many details remain speculative, scenarios provide a differentiated picture of human activities that may influence the safety of the final repository from the current perspective. Patterns are emerging that indicate how human activities could be incorporated into the optimisation of a repository and the verification of its robustness. The results of the interdisciplinary study “Stress factor human activities” therefore lead to the conclusion that futures research can contribute to optimising the long-term safety of a final repository (Eckhardt, 2021).

Nach dem Ausstieg aus der Atomkraftnutzung wird die Entsorgung der hoch radioaktiven Abfalle in Deutschland vermehrt diskutiert. Im Standortauswahlgesetz ist die Entsorgungsoption „Endlagerung“ festgelegt. Erfahrungsgemas kommen jedoch immer wieder Diskussionen daruber auf, welche Entsorgungsoption die Richtige ist, und zur Umsetzung einer Entsorgungsoption konnen verschiedene Entsorgungspfade beschritten weren. Daher sind neue Ansatze gefragt, um die Sicherheit von Entsorgungspfaden zu beurteilen und vergleichend zu bewerten.

Die Entsorgung hoch radioaktiver Abfalle ist ein anspruchsvolles Vorhaben. Sicherheit muss uber sehr lange Zeiraume gewahrleistet werden. Angesichts der damit verbundenen Ungewissheiten wird immer wieder gefordert, ein End- oder Tiefenlager uber langere Zeitraume kontrollieren zu konnen. Monitoring und Ruckholbarkeit sollen es erlauben, Abweichungen vom erwarteten Verhalten des Lagers fruhzeitig zu erkennen und ggf. Korrekturen am Entsorgungspfad vorzunehmen.

Mit der Entsorgung hoch radioaktiver Abfalle wird vorrangig das Ziel verfolgt, Mensch und Umwelt vor den Gefahren zu schutzen, die von den Abfallen ausgehen. Dazu mussen Risiken uber sehr lange Zeitraume kontrolliert und Vorsorge gegenuber Ungewissheiten getroffen werden. Ungewissheiten sind nicht nur in Bezug auf die Langzeitentwicklung der Lager von Bedeutung, sondern auch in Bezug auf die Standortauswahl, den Bau und Betrieb von End-, Tiefen- und Oberflachenlagern, die voraussichtlich viele Jahrzehnte beanspruchen werden. Wichtige Grundsatze, die dem Ziel der Sicherheit nachgelagert sind, sind Gerechtigkeit und Wirtschaftlichkeit.

International werden heute vor allem drei Entsorgungsoptionen naher in Betracht gezogen oder in nationalen Entsorgungsprogrammen umgesetzt, die Endlagerung, die Tiefenlagerung und die Oberflachenlagerung. Als Entsorgungspfad werden alle Schritte bezeichnet, die erforderlich sind, bis die Abfalle auf Dauer passiv sicher entsorgt worden sind bzw. so behandelt wurden, dass von ihnen kein unzulassiges Risiko mehr fur Mensch und Umwelt ausgeht. Die Risiken der Entsorgung variieren mit dem gewahlten Entsorgungspfad und der gewahlten Entsorgungsoption.

Gesellschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen entscheiden daruber mit, welche Entsorgungsoption und welcher Entsorgungspfad in einer spezifischen Situation die jeweils besten sind. Die Sicherheit einer Entsorgungsoption folgt einem komplexen Muster von Risiken und Ungewissheiten, das sich im Verlauf des Entsorgungspfades wandelt. Monitoring und Ruckholbarkeit bewegen sich im Spannungsfeld von Risiko, Ungewissheit und Akzeptanz. Zwischen diesen Anspruchen muss im Dialog mit der Zivilgesellschaft eine Optimierung angestrebt werden.

A partnership between nursing education and practice provides an opportunity for RNs to obtain baccalaureate degrees in their practice settings. The result is a flexible educational option that lowers cost and increases accessibility for students. The college and hospitals cooperate to meet nurses' desire to advance both educationally and professionally. Returning RNs attend liberal arts and nursing classes onsite at hospitals where all courses are taught by college faculty. Many RNs are at a crossroads and need additional education to further their career opportunities and stay abreast within a rapidly changing health care environment. To meet their needs, coursework involves active, cooperative learning processes in a climate where personal esteem is promoted and communication and collaboration are fostered. This approach can expand understanding among all parties so the future can bring new models to meet the needs of returning RNs in baccalaureate nursing programs.

The purpose of this study was to examine effects of program design on the bureaucratic and professional role conceptions of registered nurses in baccalaureate nursing programs. Attention to how programs are set up and function has relevance for theory and practice and enables improving frameworks for program planning. The study design embodied qualitative and quantitative elements and used six processes of socialization in organizations as a conceptual guide. Qualitative data collection concerned comparative case studies of three baccalaureate nursing programs and data analysis included narratives detailing program organization and describing student experience. Quantitative matter involved mailed questionnaires to determine graduates' bureaucratic, professional, and service role conceptions. Data analysis (analysis of variance) revealed statistically significant differences in role conceptions (F[3.56] = 4.51) of registered nurses graduating from different baccalaureate programs in nursing. Indications are that nursing programs can be set up to produce equal education and reach certain stated outcomes, yet implicit program processes can impact student learning. J Prof Nurs 18:157-164, 2002. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Proteins were solubilized selectively from chlorosomes of Chloroflexus aurantiacus by electrophoretic gel filtration according to Griebenow et al. Whereas the 11 kDa and 18 kDa proteins were extracted almost completely, the remaining modified chlorosomes contained high amounts of pigment and c-protein. It was concluded that the c-protein in contradiction to the publication by Griebenow et al. is indeed localized in the interior of Chloroflexus chlorosomes.