Abstract. 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.