Liberalisation of nuclear waste management?

The most crucial aspect of the battle of Barseb�ck might be the future of nuclear waste management and with it the future of the nuclear power industry. 15 % of Barseb�ck produces electricity for the German market. Who will take care of the waste produced by a foreign owned company for a foreign market? The pressure on Sweden to take responsibility for the nuclear waste will be strong. With growing internationalisation of both production and consumption of electricity, the TNCs will state that each nation can not take care of its own nuclear waste. At the same time, Sweden under a long period has been pushing municipalities in the periphery to accept long-term nuclear waste storage. So far, local interests and the environmental movement have been able to win referendum after referendum on turning the temporary nuclear waste storage, Oskarshamn, into a permanent waste storage. But with growing crisis for the periphery, and a growing pressure to claim that Sweden has a technical solution to the problem, there is a high risk for an internationally disastrous defeat for those opposing the transnational nuclear industry. If Sweden proclaims that it has both established a safe nuclear waste management and found a municipality willing to put it into practice, this will open for a strong international pressure to accept also nuclear waste from other countries. That must be met by international solidarity. What we need is international cooperation among those opposing a society built on the interests of transnational companies to plan our future putting ecological and social concerns above short-term economic profit.