The Ethics of Nuclear Energy
Risk, Justice, and Democracy in the Post-Fukushima Era

This book brings together contributions by leading scholars that systematically cover the most important ethical issues concerning nuclear energy.

Behnam Taebi (Edited by), Sabine Roeser (Edited by)

9781107674974, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 March 2018

300 pages, 6 b/w illus. 8 tables
23 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.47 kg

Despite the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, a growing number of countries are interested in expanding or introducing nuclear energy. However, nuclear energy production and nuclear waste disposal give rise to pressing ethical questions that society needs to face. This book takes up this challenge with essays by an international team of scholars focusing on the key issues of risk, justice, and democracy. The essays consider a range of ethical issues, including radiological protection, the influence of gender in the acceptability of nuclear risk, and environmental, international, and intergenerational justice in the context of nuclear energy. They also address the question of when, and under which conditions, nuclear energy should play a role in the world's future supply of electricity, looking at both developing and industrialized countries. The book will interest readers in ethics and political philosophy, social and political sciences, nuclear engineering, and policy studies.

1. The ethics of nuclear energy: an introduction Behnam Taebi and Sabine Roeser
Part I. Risk: 2. Nuclear energy and the ethics of radiation protection Sven Ove Hansson
3. The unknowable ceilings of safety: three ways that nuclear accidents escape the calculus of risk assessments John Downer
4. Rights to know and the Fukushima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island accidents Kristin Shrader-Frechette
5. Gender, ethical voices, and UK nuclear energy policy in the post-Fukushima era Karen Henwood and Nick Pidgeon
Part II. Justice: 6. The need for a public 'explosion' in the ethics of radiological protection, especially for nuclear power Stephen M. Gardiner
7. Distributive versus procedural justice in nuclear waste repository siting Pius Krütli, Kjell Törnblom, Ivo Wallimann-Helmer and Michael Stauffacher
8. Nuclear energy, justice, and power: the case of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station license renewal Bindu Panikkar and Ronald Sandler
9. Non-anthropocentric nuclear energy ethics John Nolt
Part III. Democracy: 10. Morally experimenting with nuclear energy Ibo van de Poel
11. Global nuclear energy and international security Thomas E. Doyle, II
12. Nuclear energy, the capability approach, and the developing world Paolo Gardoni and Colleen Murphy
13. The role of nuclear energy in the future energy landscape: energy scenarios, nuclear energy and sustainability Rafaela Hillerbrand
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Nuclear power & engineering [THK], Technology: general issues [TB], Philosophy of science [PDA], Radiology [MMPH], Environment law [LNKJ], Environmental economics [KCN], Society & social sciences [J], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Philosophy [HP]