Planning, legitimation, and the development of nuclear energy: a critical theoretic analysis of the Windscale Inquiry.

This article undertakes a critical theoretic assessment of the Windscale inquiry in order to throw some light on the nature of the decision-making processes involved in the development of nuclear energy. It argues that the Windscale inquiry merely served to legitimize state intervention, through the planning process, in the interests of capital. More specifically, it argues that systematic distortion of communication took place throughout the decision-making procedure, and the final, decision was reached under conditions of domination. Given that a number of recent articles have suggested that a critical theoretic perspective may well enrich one's understanding of the nature of state intervention in advanced capitalism, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to outline those aspects of the work ofJürgen Habermas, which might be most usefully employed in the study of planning. Specifically, Habermas's communicative theory of planning may be seen to provide both a normative model for planning practice, and a theoretical model of social critique which can be utilized in the analysis of planning procedure and intervention. Second, to demonstrate, in the form of a case study of a recent decision to reprocess spent nuclear fuel in Great Britain, the ways in which Habermas's work may be applied in empirical analysis.