The effects of the decision to decommission nuclear power plants on the development of energy related technologies in Sweden

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K00679
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Environmental policy and social systems
• Research Institution: Chiba University of Commerce
• Principal Investigator: Ito Yasushi 千葉商科大学, 人間社会学部, 教授 (10262388)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 原子力発電 / スウェーデン / エネルギー政策 / 技術政策 / バックエンド技術

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although Sweden decided to phase out nuclear power stations by 2010 based on the 1980 referendum, it failed to achieve. For safety, it is important to develop and maintain back-end technologies. Some argue that the decision to decommission a nuclear power plant would reduce incentives for entry, for young researchers in the nuclear-related field, and thus hamper the development of back-end technologies, which is rather dangerous. There is little evidence that the Swedish government took any active action on this issue in the 1980s. Since the 1980s, the overall number of doctoral degrees in the nuclear-related field at Swedish universities, including international students, has not declined significantly, but the number of Swedish students has declined. This was partly caused, however, by the revision of "the Nuclear Energy Activity Act" in 1987, therefore the tendency could be considered to be curbed by some policies such as increasing public R&D expenditures for back-end technologies.

Free Research Field

環境政策

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

原子力発電は、稼働停止後も超長期に渡って、維持・管理が必要になるので、原発廃棄を決定すると、原発分野の魅力が低下することで学生の参入が減少し、バックエンド技術、安全管理技術の維持・発展が困難になり、かえって危険になるという議論がある。この可能性は、原発に関する意思決定に大きな影響を与える。スウェーデンのように、実際に原発廃棄を決定した事例を研究することで、こうした主張に対して事実を提示し、議論の混乱を防ぐという貢献が期待できる。また、原発という分野にとどまらず、衰退産業における重要技術の維持という問題に関して、政策上のインプリケーションを得ることができる。