Risk and safety analysis in long-term perspective

This paper analyses how the tension between safety demands and uncertainties in calculations and management is dealt with in discussions of mercury and radioactive waste disposal in Sweden. Mercury and radioactive waste management can be seen as extreme cases where modern notions of risk management and control are called into question. The hazards associated with these categories of waste entail a request for safe handling over an unusually long time span; at the same time, it is infeasible to fully predict the consequences of a chosen method of waste disposal. In safety analyses, uncertainties are dealt with with reference to margins, further research, dilution in time and space, the role of nature and by consideration of the risk and prolonged time perspective relative to other risks and even longer time spans. The suggested solutions to the waste problem are moulded and defined to correspond to the demands of long-term safety. However, even though the definition of the suggested solutions to the waste problem as safe is politically satisfactory at rhetorical level, it will not necessarily be successful when the waste disposal policies are put into practice.