Native Americans Respond to the Transportation of Low-Level Radioactive Waste to the Nevada Test Site
- Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
This study is about the impacts of the transportation of low level radioactive waste (LLRW) on American Indians. The terms American Indians, Native Americans, and Indians are used interchangeably throughout this report to refer to people who are members of tribes in the United States. The information contained in this report is valuable to non-Indian individuals, communities, and governments as well as to the tribes and the U.S. Department of Energy/Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) for which it was prepared. Many of the individuals who agreed to participate in this study asked if their non-Indian neighbors were also being given the opportunity to share their views and perspectives on the transportation of LLRW near and through their neighborhoods. Although this study was designed to include only Native Americans, it can serve as a model for additional studies in non-Indian communities. American Indian tribes have a unique status as sovereign nations within the U.S., and this study was designed to address that relationship. The most recent official affirmation of their special relationship with the U.S. federal government is the April 29, 1994 Presidential Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, Government-to- Government Relations with Native American Tribal Governments. That memorandum outlines principles for executive departments and agencies to follow in their interactions with Native American tribal governments in order to clarify the federal responsibility in the relationships. This study is an American Indian study for three reasons: 1. American Indians were involved in all phases of the research - design, data collection, analysis, and write-up; 2. the focus is on transportation by American Indians and across Indian land; 3. the study was designed to consider individual, social, and cultural impacts. It can serve as a model of a uniquely collaborative arrangement among a federal agency, tribes, and researchers. The study nevertheless involves only a select group of American Indians and therefore reflects the values, knowledge, and views of the involved tribes. This study includes an assessment of social and cultural impacts. One type of impact assessment concerns the estimation and communication of risks associated with potentially dangerous technologies or substances. Such an assessment, a technological "risk assessment," is generally conducted by natural or physical scientists and focuses on the probability and magnitude of various scenarios through time (Wolfe 1988). The specialists who conduct the assessment believe their estimates reflect the "real risks" of a technology or project because the estimates were made using scientific calculations. This study is not a risk assessment. Instead, this study pays attention to the public perceptions of impacts and risks. Like other social scientists, the researchers and American Indian partners who designed and conducted this study focus on public perceptions and frame the discussions in terms of locally defined values and concerns. Recent studies show that public response is rational, but it is based on factors different than those used in technological calculations of risk (Kraft and Clary 1988, Freudenburg 1988, Shrader-Frechette 1985, 1988). Instead of being irrational or fearful, as many technology specialists often assert, public perceptions of impacts and risk can result from concrete and complex sociocultural issues that go beyond mathematical calculations of the probabilities and magnitudes of alternative outcomes. The American Indians who participated in this study displayed varying levels of knowledge of radioactive materials. All of them, however, are knowledgeable about their tribes, their communities, and the things they have experienced. Because of that, they provide a window into the complexity of the issues surrounding the transportation of LLRW across and near tribal lands. This study involves 29 tribes and subgroups and is therefore very complex. Every effort has been made to present information systematically to help the reader make sense of what is being presented. Information about the tribes is presented in the same order throughout the report. References to other chapters are made wherever possible to help the reader make connections and relate one piece of information to another. It is the authors' hope that the information contained herein both informs and causes the reader to pause and reflect on the experiences and concerns of the participating tribes.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Nevada Operations Office (NO)
- OSTI ID:
- 1986336
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/NV-519; TRN: US2403742
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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