Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges (2001) / Chapter Skim
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5. Societal Issues in Radioactive Waste Management
5. Societal Issues in Radioactive Waste Management
Pages 67-84
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From page 67... ...
However, there is only one such repository operating, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the United States, and it is not for HEW. In spite of strong support by the technical community, geological repositories have been opposed by large segments of the public in many countries: The delays that have occurred are partly due to operational causes, but mainly reflect institutional reasons, in large part associated with insufficient public confidence.
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From page 68... ...
Underneath lie deep social issues concerning links between peaceful and military uses of nuclear energy, the transport of nuclear materials, accountability of nuclear institutions, obligations to future generations, fairness of decision processes, and a host of other questions. Compounding all of this has been the historic underestimate of the difficulty of securing societal acceptance of waste disposal facilities.
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From page 69... ...
As discussed below, perceptions of radioactive waste and its management are also tied up with questions of trust and credibility. Review of studies conducted in different places and with different methods shows that citizens' reactions to nuclear waste and views of repository siting are remarkably similar, whatever their place of residence or walk of life (Rosa et al., 1993, p.
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From page 70... ...
There is also concern among potential neighbors of a radioactive waste facility about an indirect, or stigma, effect, whereby fear of nuclear waste may create a very negative image of their community or region and lead to a significant drop in tourism or in consumption of products that come from the area (Office Parlementaire, 1990; Slovic et al., l991c; Avolahti and Vira, 1999~. Stigma effects with consequent large economic losses have occurred after suggestions of radioactive or chemical contamination.
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From page 71... ...
Data collected from 56,000 Europeans from 1990 through 1995 (Eurobarometers 33, 35, 39, and 43~4 showed that eight out of ten citizens polled believed the "problem of nuclear waste disposal has not yet been solved" and that disposal at sea or underground "cannot be done without contaminating the environment" (Reif and Melich, 1992, 1993, 1995; Reif and Marlier, 1997~. Representative samples of the Swedish public and officials elected to local health and environment boards agreed that a "satisfactory solution" for the problem of nuclear waste does not exist at this time (Sjoberg, 1996~.
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From page 72... ...
Contemporary citizens tend to perceive nuclear energy and nuclear waste issues more pessimistically than does the nuclear technical community (Tanaka, 1996~. The divergence in view cannot be attributed solely to a lack of public understanding or familiarity with radioactivity or with technical aspects of waste management.
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From page 73... ...
Recently, in Germany, a government-industry consensus on ceasing nuclear power has also led to opposition groups' cooperating in efforts to establish repositories (AkEnd, 1999~. The language of waste management has not been conducive to reversing public distrust: To an outsider, the issue of what to do with high-level radioactive waste introduces a morass of obscure jargon and abstruse questions.
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From page 74... ...
The U.S. Secretary of Energy was sufficiently concerned about the pervasiveness of this problem to commission a special task force in 1991 "to recommend measures the Department might take to strengthen public trust and confidence in the civilian radioactive waste program" (SEAB, 1993, p.
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From page 75... ...
. An NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence affords institutional partners an opportunity to exchange experiences and to analyze the impacts of new communication patterns on waste management organizations, including training needs (NEA, 2000b)
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From page 76... ...
In the meantime, many programs will have to shape new initiatives under conditions of considerable social distrust (Kasperson et al., 1992~. VALUE JUDGMENTS AND ETHICAL ISSUES Decisions on managing nuclear waste (like other aspects of nuclear technology)
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From page 77... ...
In practice, the generation of radioactive wastes occurs largely through nuclear power production, and this implies that the debate on equity should logically be extended to include the intergenerational impacts of using nuclear energy. This report does not tackle that contentious issue directly.
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From page 78... ...
show that gains and losses associated with a hazardous waste site linked to the nuclear waste reprocessing facility at West Valley, New York, affected more than a dozen locations stretching across the United States. Even with careful attention to compensation, gains and losses are never commensurate.
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From page 79... ...
Procedural equity, including the evaluation of more than one site and the maintenance throughout the process of multiple options, was a key component of the nuclear waste program. This architecture was abrogated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987 (Public Law 100-203)
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From page 80... ...
Future initiatives in radioactive waste management in Europe, North America, and lapan may well continue the trend seen in some countries toward placing equity issues in a central position along with scientific assessments. Designers of institutions and processes geared to winning social equity for communities affected by waste storage and transport are necessarily recognizing that multiple equity problems exist simultaneously.
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From page 81... ...
Although generally a majority of persons polled consider that it is the duty of our generation to resolve the problem of nuclear waste (on average 54 percent, with a country high of 70 percent in the Eurobarometer 50.0 survey) , one-third of the citizens of the European Union surveyed in 1998 spontaneously affirmed that both this generation and future generations should be responsible for developing and implementing a solution.
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From page 82... ...
In societal discussion of such difficult ethical challenges as those presented by radioactive waste management, considerable efforts over many years, attention-focusing national or local events, and repeated opportunities for individuals and groups to work out views must be organized. Consensus in this context may usefully be defined as "achievement of a
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From page 83... ...
choosing among implementation strategies. At any stage in deciding between the major alternatives disposing of nuclear waste in a repository or storing the waste in an interim storage facility society (i.e., the public and political authority)
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From page 84... ...
Rather than being viewed as a handicap or a threat to current progress, the structural time lapse implied for learning, for institutional revamping, and for developing the capacity to choose among uncertainties can be viewed as a valuable opportunity to build both the scientific and the societal knowledge needed to successfully manage HLW and SNF. RECOMMENDATIONS Although public concerns on nuclear power and nuclear waste have been the subject of policy controversy in the United States and most other countries for more than two decades, few national programs have made a priority of social research into these topics.
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