Abstrakt
The InSOTEC case studies related to siting repositories of high-level radioactive waste do not and cannot come up with simple solutions or recipes. Rather, they suggest, more or less directly, that a slightly more reflective way of addressing sociotechnical tensions and complexities would be beneficial.
During the controversies described, quite often one party claimed that a certain problem was 'purely technical' or 'purely social'. However, just as often it was possible to successfully doubt such a claim and take it as a sign of a suspicious and unconvincing strategy of the opponent, because the issues were all so obviously entwined.
The contribution of these case studies might consist in offering us an enhanced understanding of what occurs on the borderline between the 'social' and the 'technical'. To talk about the sociotechnical challenges of deep geological disposal of nuclear waste would then mean to reflect on sociotechnical complexities - their highly specific, situated and, in a way, irreducible nature - but also, at the same time, preserve a sensitivity towards and understanding of the fact that these complexities are made manageable in practice by means of various simplifications and purifications.
This is a difficult (seemingly contradictory) point with subtle political consequences, to which the cases presented hopefully provide at least some empirical background.