Jacob Gutridge
Editor-in-Chief
Idaho State University political science doctoral candidate Bruce Blair was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study the impacts that risk and fear have on policy making with regards to nuclear waste management in Finland. However, due to COVID-19 concerns, Blair’s time abroad with the Finnish was cut short and he returned early to the United States.
“Right now, there are no permanent solutions to high-level nuclear waste,” said Blair. “The spent fuel that comes out of a nuclear reactor, that comes out a submarine, there is no means of permanently disposing of that anywhere in the world. Any country that tries to start one has failed.”
In 2002, the United States Congress approved funding to build the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada. This would’ve allowed spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste in the United States to be stored deep within Yucca Mountain, but the program was defunded under the Obama Administration in 2011.
Establishing a high-level nuclear waste program is a 20-year process, according to Blair, and countries must get the public involved throughout that process to be successful (Most countries are not successful). However, despite those odds, Finland is the only country in the world that is on track to open a high-level nuclear waste management program. His research asked why Finland?
“I went to Finland to just answer the why question,” said Blair. “Why has Finland been the only [country] so far that has been able to solve this problem? So, I applied to Fulbright to do research in Finland on their process.”
Blair started his application through the Fulbright Program somewhat late in Fall 2019. But being knowledgeable about research that was already being conducted at the University of Jyväskylä, Blair was able to reach out to Tapio Litmanen, a professor in the humanities and social sciences at Jyväskylä, about sponsoring his research through the Fulbright Program. Litmanen sponsored Blair the next day.
“[Litmanen] and his team has received research funding from the [Finnish] government on this particular process,” said Blair. “He was the perfect person to contact; my experience there was invaluable. He basically invited me as a member of his family.”
While in Finland Blair was able to attend research symposiums, interact with individuals in the Finnish nuclear-energy regulation agencies and speak with authorities in Helsinki that oversee nuclear waste research in Finland.
“I was able to interact with the Finnish population in various ways; that is all that the Fulbright is all about,” said Blair. “It is research, but it is also cultural ambassadorship. One of the elements that I went to Finland to study is risk. I study a lot of risk. Why are they willing – what is in the Finnish culture, Finnish mindset – that in the process of creating this that allowed them to accept this risk?”
Beyond visiting cultural institutions abroad, such as meeting members of parliament, Blair had also planned to visit the nuclear waste management site. However, when the United States Department of State raised a Global Level 4 Health Advisory on March 19, Blair was forced to evacuate Finland back to the United States.
“After COVID hit and once the Level 4 was initiated, immediately overnight, our Fulbright was over,” said Blair. “Finland helped us in any way, shape or form. And they helped us find flights out or helped us find funding if need be. They were amazing.”
Back at Idaho State this fall, Blair successfully defended his dissertation on Sept. 2. His dissertation advisor was former Department of Political Science Chair Donna Lybecker, who holds her doctorate in political science and was recently named the acting vice president for research and economic development at Idaho State.
Blair—who is also a political science instructor at College of Western Idaho—completed his Bachelor of Arts in history and Russian language and literature at the University of Alabama. He earned his Master of Arts in political science from the University of Alabama and from Binghamton University (SUNY).
“I think [Fulbright] is an invaluable opportunity,” said Blair. “To complete research, but to know a culture—that is one of the main elements of Fulbright. It is not just a research opportunity, it is a cultural immersion, a cultural ambassadorship, an exchange. You are supposed to help individuals that want to know more about American culture, and you are supposed to learn about the culture of your region. For topics like mine you need that cultural immersion.”
