Trust, Mistrust, Distrust, and Trust-building in the Nuclear Sector: Historical and Comparative Experience from Europe

As nuclear energy experiences renewed global interest amid climate concerns and energy security challenges, understanding the social foundations of nuclear governance becomes increasingly critical for policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society organisations. This book explores the complex dynamics of trust, mistrust, and distrust in European nuclear energy and radioactive waste management through rigorous transnational, comparative, and historical analysis.

Drawing on empirical cases from eight European countries―Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK―the contributors apply a sophisticated conceptual framework that distinguishes between trust, mistrust, and distrust across social, institutional, and ideological dimensions. The collection reveals how excessive trust can be as problematic as outright distrust, whilst demonstrating the democratic virtues of prudent scepticism and mistrustful civic vigilance in high-risk technological governance. It addresses critical gaps in social science scholarship by exploring when constructive mistrust transforms into dysfunctional distrust, examining trust dynamics in non-democratic contexts, and analysing the complex interactions between interpersonal, institutional, and ideological trust dimensions. Contributors provide context-sensitive analyses of nuclear waste governance, transboundary nuclear risks, and the evolution of civic engagement in nuclear policymaking.

This volume will be essential reading for scholars of science and technology studies, public policy researchers, nuclear industry professionals, and policymakers seeking evidence-based approaches to participatory governance in high-risk industries. This book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of Risk Research.

Markku Lehtonen is an interdisciplinary social scientist at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.

Ana Prades is the head of of the Centre for Socio-technical Research (CISOT) at CIEMAT (Research Centre for Energy, Technology and the Environment) in Barcelona, Spain.

Josep Espluga Trenc is Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Spain.

Stathis Arapostathis is Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece.