THE POLITICS OF RADWASTE MANAGEMENT IN SWEDEN - CIVIL-SOCIETY, THE ECONOMY AND THE STATE

Taking as its point of departure a conceptualization of society as com prising three interdependent spheres - civil society, the state and th e economy - the article focuses on Swedish policy for radwaste managem ent. Nuclear power policy in Sweden was elaborated in cooperation betw een the state and the industry, but came in for lively discussion and politicization during the 1970s. The problem of radioactive waste was an essential part of the critique of nuclear power, but despite that r adwaste management has been depoliticized, and today it is the respons ibility solely of the nuclear companies themselves. Sweden, like many other countries, will during the 1990s start to decide where to locate the repository for spent nuclear fuel. However, basically because of the possibility of local opposition, the siting of such facilities is anything but unproblematic, and therefore the attitude of the civil so ciety to a site is an essential factor to be taken into consideration. This attitude has to do with circumstances that are more or less spec ific to each locality. Hence, when it comes to the siting of radwaste, the role of the municipality becomes crucial, situated as it is at th e interface between civil society, the state and the economy.