D5.1 - Principles for Effective Engagement

In the context of interactions between nuclear power and society since the mid-twentieth century, this report explores various examples of historic, international engagement, informed by a review of a range of literature on stakeholder, community and public engagement. The aim of this report is to identify a number of core principles that reflect effective and positive engagement and, in turn, aspects of poor or ineffective engagement that should be mitigated or avoided during future programmes. By identifying a series of ‘principles for engagement’, we seek to provide guidance on future engagement practices and programmes, among both nuclear stakeholders and those in other technological fields. We identify principles of engagement that are applicable beyond those scenarios involving nuclear power development, and even energy more generally. To define a desirable engagement future, it is necessary to understand what principles or values are required to ensure fair and equitable engagement. Whilst it is impossible to predict the complexity and behaviour of human and social systems, it is possible to elicit the principles or values that have contributed significantly to the perception of successful engagement. Authors such as Bond et al. (2004) have undertaken similar exercises to this in reviewing and detailing broad principles of public participation, part of which involved studying the public engagement approach for assessing different decommissioning proposals for Trawsfynnydd Nuclear Power Station in North Wales, U.K. The current work seeks to similarly identify principles of effective engagement, but will include the historical experiences of various European countries to do so.