Case Study. Transporting Nuclear Waste
The case of the transportation of nuclear waste is topic that can cause strong feelings and reactions to the uncertainties and risks associated with this form of pollution.
Now we are going to refer to each of the four key concepts of globalization to see what the notion tells us about the processes at work in this case study.
The stretching of social relations in space is clear. The decisions taken about nuclear power and its production in the one-time USSR had horrible effects far away from Chernobyl plant. The reprocessing of nuclear waste is a global industry, and the search for places to leave nuclear waste is a global one, watching Australia apparently being particularly attractive for BNFL. The complexity of these relations and the world-wide focus of the search for a site are, at least, consistent with the globalization thesis.. As the World Bank memo suggests, there is a new logic’ which argues that flows of pollution from the richer countries (North) to the poorer countries (South), also called ‘lesser-developed countries’ is a ‘world welfare enhancing trade’, because places with big open spaces and little pollution are able to store the waste and will receive money in exchange, so that their incomes are raised. This is a logic that builds on and reshapes existing patterns of uneven global development.
The intensity of the interactions is apparent too. An explosion in Chernobyl had a measurable effect thousands of meters away, as well as on the local environment. Local opposition to plans to dump nuclear waste in Cumbria could have a dramatic effect on the other side of the globe, where it is feared that children may be poisoned by the new pollution. Some might argue that Australian Aborigines faced similar threats when they were removed from the land but this time the logic is driven by the requirements of global business rather than simple colonialism. In this context, it is also important to confirm that the impacts of globalizing processes
Now we are going to refer to each of the four key concepts of globalization to see what the notion tells us about the processes at work in this case study.
The stretching of social relations in space is clear. The decisions taken about nuclear power and its production in the one-time USSR had horrible effects far away from Chernobyl plant. The reprocessing of nuclear waste is a global industry, and the search for places to leave nuclear waste is a global one, watching Australia apparently being particularly attractive for BNFL. The complexity of these relations and the world-wide focus of the search for a site are, at least, consistent with the globalization thesis.. As the World Bank memo suggests, there is a new logic’ which argues that flows of pollution from the richer countries (North) to the poorer countries (South), also called ‘lesser-developed countries’ is a ‘world welfare enhancing trade’, because places with big open spaces and little pollution are able to store the waste and will receive money in exchange, so that their incomes are raised. This is a logic that builds on and reshapes existing patterns of uneven global development.
The intensity of the interactions is apparent too. An explosion in Chernobyl had a measurable effect thousands of meters away, as well as on the local environment. Local opposition to plans to dump nuclear waste in Cumbria could have a dramatic effect on the other side of the globe, where it is feared that children may be poisoned by the new pollution. Some might argue that Australian Aborigines faced similar threats when they were removed from the land but this time the logic is driven by the requirements of global business rather than simple colonialism. In this context, it is also important to confirm that the impacts of globalizing processes