File:Case Pyhajoki presentation Finnish Exceptionalism.pdf

Finnish Exceptionalism: Drivers of nuclear new build

"Tapio Litmanen from University of Jyväskylä spoke about 'Finnish exceptionalism: The drivers of nuclear new build'. Litmanen has been working on different issues around nuclear technology since 1980s. In his presentation he went carefully through the development of Finnish energy usage and production before going into the nuclear power question.

Interestingly, Litmanen also discussed in general on the sociological interest towards such a technical topic as nuclear technology. He lists a variety of reasons that have stimulated a lot of social science researchers to look at the nuclear power, especially after Fukushima accident: Instability in nuclear power’s societal status created by the ambiguous nature of the technology itself, changing public opinions, fluidity of political judgments (as an example, decisions in Germany after Fukushima), flow of cultural meanings attached to nuclear power, unpredictability of media processing.

In the end Tapio Litmanen presents his analysis (done with Matti Kojo) on the nuclear power policy development in Finland in different times. They analyzed the fluctuations in nuclear energy politics and the surrounding society influencing the decisions on nuclear new builds. These 'policy arrangement periods' are 'the rejection of the nuclear power industry' (1986–1993), 'the revival of the nuclear power industry' (1994–2002), and 'the renewal of the nuclear power industry' (2003–2010) (Litmanen & Kojo 2011)."^[1]

Presentation by Tapio Litmanen, University of Jyväskylä

on August 1, 2013 in the Case Pyhäjoki event