Chun, Joseph Hoe Kiat; (2002) A critical analysis of the contribution to sustainable development of the law and practice on public participation in the authorisation of radioactive waste disposal. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The thesis critically analyses the fairness and competence of aspects of the law and practice relating to public participation in the Environment Agency's authorisation of radioactive waste disposal. It argues that the primary objective of environmental decision-making is to contribute to sustainable development, and that sustainable development is best understood as a conception of distributive justice. It then examines, from a procedural perspective, the contribution to sustainable development made by the Agency's decisions to authorise the disposal of radioactive waste at Atomic Weapons Establishments at Aldermaston and Burghfield, at eight magnox power stations throughout England and Wales, and at the Berkeley Centre; and of its re-examination of the authorisations for disposal of radioactive wastes from Sellafield. The insight offered by the empirical examination is that while the law imposes on administrative decision-makers a minimum standard of fairness and competence in public participation, it also inhibits in some important respects, the further development of a practice towards fairer and more competent participation, thereby indirectly constituting an 'upper limit' to the further contribution of environmental decision-making to sustainable development.

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