Abstract
Technical knowledge and information on the geological disposal of radioactive waste should be readily understandable for stakeholders who make decisions on implementation of the disposal so that those would be effectively contributory to the decision-making process. To realise reasonable understanding and decisions on the radioactive waste disposal project, it is suggested to be effective and necessary that producing knowledge and information is carried out interactively with crystallizing variable requirements and concerns from stakeholders, rather than by giving technical information in only one direction even if it can be provided in detail. In this study, a communication methodology of knowledge management on radioactive waste disposal based on analysis of a series of dialogue experiments with citizens and a case study of discussion by political experts on the geological disposal project of high-level radioactive waste and TRU waste in Japan is discussed. It seems reasonable to conclude that there is a common process of stepwise understanding, in which stakeholders need general knowledge and information on the concerned issue in the first step and then obtain more specific knowledge to make decision in the later steps. In the knowledge management concept, it is suggested that the key issues are how to correct and arrange knowledge and information, not only technical ones but also political, economical and so on, by applying the methodology of interactive accumulation of them between stakeholders.
