Science, technology and society: opening pathways for integrating social sciences and humanities into nuclear research

摘要: The PISA programme was initiated in 1999 within the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK•CEN to study the societal, political, cultural and ethical aspects of the development and use of nuclear technology and applications of ionising radiation. The programme was launched as the result of an internal reflection acknowledging that insights from social sciences and humanities were required to better explore normative concepts such as precaution and sustainable development, and to understand attitudes towards nuclear technologies and its governance. This presentation elaborates on the objectives of PISA and its main research tracks. It shows that through its multi-disciplinary approach, the PISA programme of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK•CEN opens pathways towards such integration, and thus contributes to rendering nuclear research more reflective and more responsive towards society. It explicates the interactions between science, technology and society, in general, and the complexity of nuclear technology assessment, in particular. Last, but not least, due do its reflexive character, PISA research creates an epistemologically and socially enriching dynamic in the organisation itself.