Nuclear issues are embedded with broader societal issues such as the environment, risk management, energy and health policies, and sustainability. As such, nuclear projects often generate considerable interest and concern from stakeholders. In this context "stakeholder" is intended to be taken in its broadest sense and should include concerned public, businesses, economic actors, NGOs, local, regional and national authorities, nuclear regulators, etc. Anyone who has relevant information, experience or concerns may seek to participate in the decision making process, and to interact with other stakeholders.

Nuclear regulators, governments, operators, and other decision makers have a responsibility to ensure a high degree of transparency and to make clear and well-reasoned decisions. In this respect, there is an increasing demand for stakeholder involvement, participation and engagement. Across NEA member countries, many different approaches are taken to stakeholder involvement as decisions are made and implemented.

Well-informed decisions broadly reflect the input of stakeholder views in a balanced fashion, the achievement of which can be difficult to assess. Attempts to achieve such broad understanding of views and acceptance of resulting decisions are an important part of building public confidence. Additionally, interested citizens, other stakeholders, and non-governmental organisations often call upon decision processes to be conducted in a manner that maintains public confidence. This workshop was not about what decision is made. Rather, it was about decision making processes used to reflect stakeholder concerns and input. How does one effectively involve stakeholders? How does one build and assess public confidence? How can broader stakeholder involvement help decision makers to make well-informed decisions that effectively address stakeholder views?

On 17-19 January 2017, the NEA hosted a workshop on Stakeholder Involvement in Nuclear Decision Making to address the above and other related questions. While examining a number of case studies, the workshop drew upon expertise and applications across multiple domains of NEA work, including the Forum on Stakeholder Confidence, the Radioactive Waste Management Committee, the Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health, the Committee on the Nuclear Regulatory Activities, the Nuclear Law Committee and the Committee for Technical and Economic Studies on Nuclear Energy Development and the Fuel Cycle, to share perspectives and document best practices and lessons learnt from nuclear and non-nuclear activities alike on how to best involve stakeholders in the decision making process.

The scope of the workshop included, inter alia:

• various levels of stakeholder involvement, the terms and their meanings
• aspects of or factors in effective and ineffective involvement of stakeholders
• respective roles in effective stakeholder participation practices
• factual accuracy while encouraging differing positions and information
• approaches to enable trust and well-informed decisions
• the interrelationships between different areas of expert domains.

The format of the workshop was highly interactive. Participants were encouraged to commit to the full three days as they would be interacting with individuals in different subject areas. The participants were divided into smaller groups and time was allocated for cross-cutting dialogues to capture different perspectives on stakeholder involvement. The workshop outcomes were compiled into a report and shared with the NEA member countries.

Workshop presentations