Planning for the management of nuclear wastes -- whatever their level of
radioactivity -- is one of the most important environmental problems for
all societies that produce utility, industrial, medical, or other
radioactive waste products. Attemps to site low-level radioactive waste
disposal facilities in Western industrial societies, however, have
repeatedly engendered conflicts between governments, encountered
vehement opposition on the part of local citizen groups, and given rise
to overt hostilities among involved parties.
LLRW Disposal Facility Siting is the result of a study designed to
learn more about the causes underlying failed and successful efforts to
site LLRW disposal facilities. The study is based on case histories of
LLRW disposal facility siting processes in six countries. Siting
processes in five states within the United States and in five additional
countries are analyzed using information obtained from public documents
and supplemented by interviews with key participants. The selected
states and countries are major generators of LLRW and each has made
efforts to establish LLRW disposal facilities during the past decade.
They vary widely in the approaches they have adopted to LLRW management,
the institutional structures developed for managing the siting process,
the means used to involve stakeholders and technical experts in the
facility siting process and the amount and type of data used in making
decisions.
The analysis of these case histories provides general lessons about the
advantages, disadvantages, strengths, and weaknesses of the various
approaches that have been attempted or implemented. LLRW Disposal
Facility Siting provides valuable data for academics and researchers
working in the area of environmental management.
