Abstract:
To study suitable level and nature of the public participation in the operation of nuclear power plant in Thailand. The documentary research involved studying the current laws, rules, regulations and policies to determine whether there are any provisions or articles relating to the issue. In addition, researcher also studied public participation in the operation of nuclear power plants in oversea countries namely Japan and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The study results showed that, currently, Thailand already has laws, provisions, regulations and policies regarding the issue. However, these regulations are unclear. That is, although they prescribe that the public should be involved in the issue at a certain level or take some form of action, they do not cover suitable level of participation in the operation of nuclear power plants. In this regard, the researcher has proposed suitable levels and forms of the public participation. The siting process should use collaboration level, design process should use inform level, contruction process should use involve level and finally the operation process should use inform level. At all levels, community advisory committee should be used to support other forms of public participation. In addition, stakeholders who should participate in each stage of the operation of nuclear power plants in Thailand must be specified. The main obstacle of public participation in the operation of nuclear power plant is the publics lack of understanding about nuclear power. Hence, it is suggested that the government should educate the public first.