Narratives and images of the future for final disposal

The search for a final repository in Germany lies in the field of tension between a past characterized by conflicts and a future-oriented process shaped by the repository site selection procedure. An examination of the history of social conflicts can be of assistance for the organization of participation concepts and positively influence the discourse. In this context, narratives play a special role in the discourse strategies. Over the course of the research project “Public participation in the search for a repository site: challenges of an intergenerational self-questioning and learning procedure” (Brohmann et al., 2021) narratives were analyzed by the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and future images for the repository were developed. Narratives consolidate very different discourse elements and therefore provide coherent tales. These are important narratives and temporally structured descriptions that refer to the past and can encroach upon the present. They are simultaneously open with respect to the future (Geiger, 2006), which makes them interesting for the development of future images. In turn, concrete perceptions, wishes and visions for aspects not yet experienced in the present are elucidated in future images. In the context of the search for a repository site, it is the “sociotechnical futures” (Lösch et al., 2019) that can be used with technical and political means for the accompanying construction of a social task. Sociotechnical futures designate different and possibly contrary futures, the sketching of which are usually related to larger public debates. Starting from a theoretical and conceptional classification of narratives and future images, an empirical examination is carried out in which qualitative social research methods and technology assessment concepts were applied. Using qualitative guideline-assisted interviews, experts were questioned about their present perspectives on the site selection procedure for a repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste. This also included the consideration of the context and reflections on futures to be expected. The interviews were evaluated by qualitative content analysis and the results consolidated in narratives. In a further step, the narratives were further developed in a reflection workshop with young adults and future images were conceptualized starting from various developmental pathways. The results and the recommendations for action derived from them for the participation process of the search for the repository site are the central subject of the presentation. Special emphasis is placed on the challenge of an intergenerational participation. Then, whereas (conflict afflicted) narratives encroach on the discourse in the present (and future) but “new” players without (conflict) experience participate in the discourse, this places a special challenge on the participation process as a whole, as interpretive patterns and expectations are also debated over and over again.