Paper short abstract:

This paper presents the ENTRIA project and selected aspects of ENTRIA's interdisciplinary work on dose limits related to the different roles such limits play for different societal actors as well as to the specific case of deep geological disposal of nuclear waste.

Paper long abstract:

ENTRIA ("Disposal Options for Radioactive Residues: Interdisciplinary Analyses and Development of Evaluation Principles") is a joint research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Initiated by the ENTRIA working group "Technology Assessment and Governance" and recognising that dose limits for the operational and post‐operational phases of management facilities are an issue of utmost importance and concern when addressing both technical and governance aspects of disposal options, ENTRIA scientists developed a research paper aiming at an interdisciplinary synthesis of technical, sociology of knowledge, legal, societal, and political aspects. The paper addresses technical and non‐technical drivers in definitions of dose limits, perceptions of radiation effects and dose limits, and controversies about the meaning and role of such limits. It elaborates on the technical and non‐technical drivers. In doing so, it recognises that such limits are indispensable for technological development and legal security but often have a contra‐productive effect in communication, political, and governance contexts. In order to better understand the coproduction and interdependencies of these various contexts, future interdisciplinary research needs to address the relationship between dose limits and risk perception as well as the role of confidence and trust. It should aim at a discourse based communication about underlying values, objectives, actors and procedures when defining limits, and potential alternatives and complements to established limits.