The disposal of highly radioactive waste in Germany is a particularly challenging infrastructure project due to the complex socio-technical problems involved and the conflict-ridden history. Many learning processes led to a science-based and participatory approach framed by the Site Selection Act, for the success of which the interaction of the various parties involved in the process is of great importance. The objectives of maximum safety, effective public participation, and a limited timeframe must be reconciled, and associated negotiations are prone to conflict. To prevent the nuclear waste management process from stalling, conflicting issues should be identified and analyzed in their respective contexts. Identifying and developing suitable conflict management strategies will contribute to the success of the process.

What issues are addressed?

The research project explores the following overarching questions:

• How can socio-technical conflicts in the field of high-level radioactive waste disposal be described and analyzed?
• What criteria are appropriate for evaluating conflict management and communication formats?
• What are the conditions for success of formats and methods of social interaction in informal conflict management with regard to different types of conflict (including visual representations)?

What aspects of conflict management are considered?

In particular, two aspects of conflict management will be analyzed:

• methodological approaches at the level of direct social and communicative interaction,
• use of visual representations of discourse objects in conflict management methods.

In terms of methods and formats, the focus will be on forms of informal conflict management.

What is the methodological approach?

Various methods of qualitative empirical social research with transdisciplinary elements are used at two levels:

1. deepening the understanding of the problem with practitioners (co-design),
2. developing new knowledge about conflict management options (co-production).

What is the aim of the project?

Three main objectives are pursued with regard to the problem of “conflicts in nuclear waste disposal”:

• Development and deepening of a differentiated and systematized understanding of socio-technical conflicts in nuclear waste management in interdisciplinary exchange.
• Analysis of socio-technical conflicts in nuclear waste management and development of evaluation criteria for approaches to informal conflict management.
• Development of options for action and design proposals that actors can use in the practical implementation of conflict management formats.

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