Learning from Finland’s Approach to Nuclear Waste

Energy security, electricity demand, and the debate over nuclear power remain high on policy agendas worldwide, but beyond the technical issues, questions of trust and transparency are often key to decision-making. For Bruce Blair, these social dimensions of energy systems are central to his research and career. A Fulbright Finland alumnus and social scientist, Bruce now works as an analyst with the New Hampshire Department of Energy, spending much of his time thinking about electricity markets and the complex factors that determine whether there will be enough energy to meet demand.

But Bruce’s route into energy policy has been anything but linear, as he himself explains. Born and raised in Alabama, he grew up in a military family, although without the constant moving that often comes with it. “I never moved home until I went off to college. And, jokingly, I’ve been making up for that the rest of my life,” he smiles.

Bruce was the first person in his family to attend college, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree, two master’s degrees, and a doctorate. He originally planned to become an engineer, before realizing that the field was not quite the right fit - although, he now reflects, the analytical mindset never left him.

His undergraduate studies eventually took him into Russian language and literature, alongside history and political science. From there, he became interested in energy questions in the former Soviet Union and Europe, particularly the movement of natural gas across Ukraine into European markets. “At that time, 70% of natural gas to Europe came from Russia through Ukraine,” he notes.

The Social Science of Nuclear Waste

That sense of the social and political significance of energy became sharpened while he was finishing his doctorate at Idaho State University, near Idaho National Laboratory, a place closely associated with nuclear research. There, Bruce became interested in one of the most difficult and long-term questions facing nuclear energy: what to do with spent nuclear fuel.

“Whether you agree with nuclear energy or not, there are generations and generations of development behind it, and we have to close the fuel cycle,” Bruce says. “We have waste that we have to dispose of safely, securely, and in a permanent fashion, or find ways to reuse it.”

However, as a social scientist, Bruce was less focused on the geological requirements of deep storage than on the processes that make public consent and community participation possible.
“Even if we never build another nuclear generator, we will still have almost a century’s worth of nuclear waste. It has to be dealt with,” he says.

A Different Model of Public Engagement

What brought Bruce to Finland was the country’s internationally significant approach to spent nuclear fuel disposal using long-term deep geological repositories, leading him to research being carried out at the University of Jyväskylä by Professor Tapio Litmanen and his team. 

Bruce explains he was particularly interested in how the Nordic country had approached local engagement and developed community trust - and how it had navigated the political buy-in for a project which by its nature had to last centuries beyond any government mandate. 

“The only one the U.S. tried, their processes were not effective,” he says, referring to Yucca Mountain, the proposed U.S. deep geological repository site in the Nevada desert. “They didn’t get true local buy-in. They basically said, ‘We’re going to put it here in Yucca Mountain and we’re going to run with it.’ And, of course, it didn’t work.”

“The first country to actually engage in a successful process was Finland,” Bruce explains. “So I started to research. As someone who’s not an engineer, not a physicist, I don’t understand the geological conditions that are necessary to safely house the waste. But from my background, it’s more the processes of community engagement, stakeholder engagement. How do you get local buy-in?”

What brought Bruce to Finland was the country’s internationally significant approach to spent nuclear fuel disposal using long-term deep geological repositories.

The question captures what drew him to the subject: deciding how to handle nuclear waste is not simply a question of engineering or geology, it is also a complex social, cultural, and political issue. In Finland, he says, he saw a model in which social science had been taken seriously in decision-making.

“In the U.S., you don’t get social scientists really involved in the process a lot. And Finland did,” he says.

One of the things that interested him most was that Finland’s approach to determining the site of the waste repository was not simply top-down. “Communities actually suggested that they may want to host it, if everything works out in the end,” he explains.

For Bruce, the Finnish approach also showed how practical concerns, such as transportation and fears about accepting waste from other countries, can affect public trust. Finland, he says, addressed these concerns partly by tying the repository to domestic generation and limiting international shipments. “They were able to hedge concerns of using Finland as a repository for waste for other countries and said, ‘No, it’s only for Finland.’”

One of the main challenges in nuclear waste disposal, Bruce explains, is that it requires public engagement over years, even decades, where the perception of risk, as well as political support, can shift over time. Likewise, the economic benefits of hosting a disposal site may be less obvious than those expected from hosting a new power plant, Bruce explains. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s easy to have a community want generation,” he says. “It’s more difficult for a location to want disposal.”

A Fulbright Year in Jyväskylä

Bruce explains that he first began looking into the Fulbright Program at the suggestion of his doctoral advisor, although he was initially unsure whether he would be a strong candidate. “I was like, ‘Well, I’m a first-generation student - I don’t know if I would be competitive.’ But she said, ‘Just apply.’” He contacted Professor Litmanen late in the process to ask whether Jyväskylä might be willing to host him as a Fulbright scholar. “No questions asked, he did it immediately,” Bruce recalls.

Although his Fulbright period in Finland was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bruce says the experience left a lasting impact, and right from the beginning, he felt unexpectedly at home.

“My office mates were like, ‘Oh, are you sure you’re not Finnish?’ Because I instantly fell right into the culture,” he recalls. “Being quiet in a room with people and just enjoying being there. I really like that.”

Fulbright Finland also helped with getting settled in, including through the Fulbright Buddy system, where Bruce’s buddy met him with a welcome gift of basic household items, so he would not have to buy everything immediately after arriving.

At the University of Jyväskylä, he found an equally warm academic welcome. Tapio Litmanen helped him navigate the university, introducing him to colleagues and including him in research activities. His office mates invited him to social events and introduced him to local sports, including hockey, soccer, and pesäpallo, or Finnish baseball. “They showed me not only the culture, but university life,” Bruce says.

And professionally, the grant gave him access to networks and conversations that helped to inform and develop his research. He presented his work at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, spoke with people at STUK, Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, and joined research gatherings with Litmanen’s team. “I don’t know how one could have an easier introduction than I did,” he says. “It was amazing.”

When COVID disrupted the grant period, Bruce says Fulbright Finland’s support remained exceptional. “They provided a lot of care,” he says, explaining that the Foundation's team helped grantees navigate practical issues, funding, and travel decisions during a difficult and uncertain time.

Stepping Into Energy Analysis

Today, Bruce works as an energy analyst on the regional team at the New Hampshire Department of Energy. His work focuses on New England’s wholesale electricity markets, coordination with neighboring states and Eastern Canadian provinces, and the reliability of the energy system.

“We import and export electricity into Canada,” he explains. The region is organized around ISO New England, the Independent System Operator that runs markets, manages the flow of electricity on transmission lines, and handles planning and balancing needs.

“A lot of it is the nitty-gritty behind the wholesale market of generating and transmitting electricity,” Bruce says, explaining that one major issue his analytical work focuses on is resource adequacy: making sure enough generation is available to meet demand. That question, he says, is becoming more urgent as electricity use grows.

Energy policy requires understanding complex systems, communicating risk, and translating technical issues into terms that decision-makers can use.

“Every state, every country, every region is looking at this because of increased energy demands, for example from AI and electrification of heating - all of these things are huge issues, for they increase demand beyond current projections and during times and seasons when demand has normally been lower.”

New England’s winter energy constraints also connect his current work back to global energy markets. Because the region is at the end of the natural gas pipeline, Bruce monitors liquified natural gas prices and shipments, including competition with Europe.

“Europe always has a higher liquefied natural gas price than New England does,” he says. “So a lot of times the ships bound for us will go towards Europe.”

Although his current role is not focused on nuclear waste, Bruce sees clear connections with his earlier research. Energy policy requires understanding complex systems, communicating risk, and translating technical issues into terms that decision-makers can use.

“My years of research looking at Finland and other areas of Europe, and the work I presented while I was in Finland, have led me to be able to do the job I have now,” Bruce says. “When conversations turn to communicating science and communicating risk, there are elements I can contribute.”

The “Infinite Immeasurables” of Fulbright Exchange

Bruce’s connection to Fulbright Finland has continued long after his grant. He later joined the Friends of Fulbright Finland Alumni Council, serving for around two and a half years. The motivation, he says, was gratitude. “I wanted to be as helpful post-Fulbright as the Fulbright Finland Foundation had been to me during and after.”

“You build up this identity and these connections during your time as a Fulbrighter,” he says. “Not only connections to people, but to the place, to the culture, to the region, if you will, and to the organization. I’m always thinking about the debt I owe people and that I want to help out as much as possible to pay back the kindness of others.”

I’m always thinking about the debt I owe people and that I want to help out as much as possible to pay back the kindness of others.

Asked to reflect on the value of Fulbright and similar exchange programs, Bruce resists reducing the experience to numbers, outputs, or professional networks alone.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, I’ve met a lot of people, I made a lot of connections’ - to take the economist approach to it. But I’m a social scientist, so I know that falls short, very short,” he smiles. “There’s the personal growth side to it. There’s the confidence you get from just applying to being awarded it. There’s the mindset you develop from putting yourself into a different situation, learning a different culture.”

“I always say, no matter where you go, no matter what culture you’re in, people are generally the same. And we may value different things, we may have different customs, but at the end of the day, we all want the world to be better from us having lived in it.”

“I think these types of experiences drastically change you for the better as an individual, because they get you out of your comfort area, put you in a different location. You meet different individuals, you change. It not only helps you in your professional life, but there are the infinite immeasurables. Just as an individual, you grow. As a friend, you grow. As a partner, you grow. As a human, you grow.”

“If you recognize the benefits of it, you want to make sure other people also have those experiences. I don’t know if you can put a number on it. Whatever number you want, it’s going to be too low - it’s immeasurable.”

Read the whole Fulbright Finland News Magazine 1/2026!