Interdisciplinary perspectives on dose limits in radioactive waste management: A research paper developed within the ENTRIA project

Within the ENTRIA project, an interdisciplinary group of scientists developed a research paper aiming at a synthesis of the technical, sociology of knowledge, legal, societal, and political aspects of dose limits within the field of radioactive waste management. In this paper, the ENTRIA project is briefly introduced and the work on dose limits is put into the perspective of this much larger project. Selected aspects of the ENTRIA work on dose limits related to the different roles such limits play for different actors as well as to the specific case of nuclear waste disposal are presented. The work recognizes that such limits are indispensable for technological developments and legal security but, at the same time, depend on country and project specific circumstances. This may result in serious conflicts and concerns in public debates as well as in the political realm. In order to better understand the interaction and interdependencies of these various contexts in which debates about dose limits play out, future interdisciplinary research is needed. This research should contribute to an open discourse on dose limits which reflects underlying values, objectives, actors and procedures that have defined present dose limit regimes. Additionally, this research should indicate paths for potential alternatives and complements to these established regimes.