HoNESt (History of Nuclear Energy and Society) aims to study the history of nuclear energy and its relationship with European society. It is funded within the European Union’s HORIZON 2020 research framework programme by EURATOM whith a budget of 3,052,269 euros. Coordinated by Albert Presas i Puig (UPF - Huma), HoNESt is an interdisciplinary consortium of twenty-four institutions performing research with the common goal of improving knowledge of the dynamics established between nuclear energy and society. The interaction of civil society with nuclear developments changes with time and varies depending on whether such interaction is local, national or transnational. HoNESt seeks to address the complexity of the political, technological and economic challenges, as well as understand the state of affairs on safety, the perception of risk, communication and the media, public participation, social movements, and so on. As a subject of study, nuclear energy can be addressed from various angles and to date its interaction has been studied mainly disjointedly nuclear development and society in the past sixty years. The results of this analysis will help with the current debate on future energy sources and the transition to the production of affordable, safe and clean energy sources. HoNESt will provide a pioneering interdisciplinary and integrated approach which conceptually will be fed from Large Technology Systems (LTS) and the Integrated Socio-technical (IST) system and will establish close and innovative collaboration with expert historians and social scientists in this field of knowledge. The project involves the main key players of this subject: industry, policy makers and civil society, in a structured dialogue that frames the results in a public debate on nuclear power. The project will compile historical data from more than twenty countries for analysis by historians and social scientists using retrospective analysis techniques starting from the past up to the present day with the aim of improving the understanding of the mechanisms underlying decision-making and citizen participation associated with nuclear energy.

Project website: http://www.honest2020.eu/

Starting date: 01/09/2015

Finishing date: 31/08/2018