Regulatory and Stakeholder Involvement is Key to Successful Project Completion
- Nuvotec, USA, 723 The Parkway, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)
- Innovations Group, Inc., 7005 W. Calavar Road, Peoria, AZ 85381 (United States)
- CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc., P.O. Box 1500, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)
- Department of Energy, Office of River Protection, P.O. Box 450, MSIN H6-60, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)
Public involvement participation is an integral and effective component of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) activities that ensures crucial decisions are made with the benefit and consideration of public perspectives. This component brings a broad range of diverse viewpoints and values into DOE's decision-making processes before end decision points are reached. Early involvement enables DOE to make more informed decisions, improve quality through collaborative efforts, and helps to build mutual understanding and trust between DOE and the public it serves. During the cold war, the production of thousands of nuclear warheads was an outstanding engineering achievement that created materials and technologies that were vital to national interest and security; however, it also created a legacy of perplexing toxic nuclear waste. The significant challenges presented by the liquid and solid nuclear wastes stored at the Hanford Site, were formally acknowledged by the U.S. Congress when it directed DOE to establish the Office of River Protection (ORP). The office was assigned the single, dedicated mission of retrieving, treating, and disposing of all waste contained in 177 huge underground storage tanks at the Hanford Site in Southeastern Washington State. As part of this on-going mission of cleanup, the Office of River Protection must make sound decisions that uphold not only the Department of Energy's interests, but more importantly, the interests of the state of Washington. Public participation is an open, ongoing, two-way communication, both formal and informal, between DOE and its stakeholders, regulatory agencies and Tribal governments. Similarly, public information is a means to keep the public informed of progress or to status ongoing activities and/or issues. Another facet of this process is that various laws and regulations govern public participation and information when it comes to Hanford cleanup, including the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Tri-Party Agreement).[1] The key governmental or regulatory organizations that can influence the ORP Mission include, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of Energy-Headquarters, the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Washington State Department of Ecology and Health, and the Washington State Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Stakeholders include the concerned citizen groups, the congressionally recognized-Hanford Advisory Board, signatories to regional agreements, Tribal Nations with treaty rights, other DOE sites, other government agencies with cross-cutting programs and local state, county, and municipal governments. [2] ORP understands that while quality work and planning are essential elements of completing their mission, they cannot accomplish it fully without public confidence and trust. Given the length of the mission, many changes will occur in the external environment of national attitudes, priorities, standards, expectations and economic conditions over the life span of the mission. There will be unanticipated events, and difficult periods of change and complex decisions that will occur over the next several years. Under these conditions, the question of how to respond is as important as the quality plans and technical abilities of the ORP. The strategy ORP employs is designed to increase effectiveness and provide meaningful opportunities for public input across many DOE missions, activities and decisions. Diverse minds working together can often come up with better solutions to problems. In addition, if people can participate in decisions that affect them, they are more likely to support those decisions, even when dissention occurs. Public involvement is not a vote, or a popularity contest. Public involvement is a process to give deciding officials the best information to make informed decisions while assuring all concerned people an opportunity to be heard. This paper will describe how ORP meets the following goals: - Actively seek and consider public input; incorporate or otherwise respond to the views of regulatory agencies, Tribal Nations, stakeholders and the general public when making decisions. - Inform the general public in a timely manner and provide the opportunity to give input in the decision-making process, which are open and understandable. - Clearly define access points for public input from the earliest stages of a decision process, and provide adequate time for regulatory agencies, Tribal Nations, stakeholders and the general public to participate. - Consistently incorporate credible, effective public participation processes into program operations, planning activities, and decision-making processes. All employees share responsibility to promote, practice, and improve public involvement. - Keep the general public informed of how their input helped make key decisions, progress of ongoing activities, emerging technologies and opportunities for economic diversity. This paper is designed to describe the process that the ORP follows and provide a general framework for all DOE offices and programs. Its specific intent is development and implementation of an effective public participation program at Hanford. This paper is not intended to affect legal requirements imposed by law, regulation, or contractual agreement; nor does it modify any legal rights available to the public under current law, nor change how inherent government functions are performed. DOE recognizes that honesty and forthrightness in dealing with stakeholders, and consistent credible, and quality performance are the bases upon which to build public understanding and trust. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 13023, Tucson, AZ, 85732-3023 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21210733
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-09-WM-06478; TRN: US09V1161081195
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste Management 2006 Symposium - WM'06 - Global Accomplishments in Environmental and Radioactive Waste Management: Education and Opportunity for the Next Generation of Waste Management Professionals, Tucson, AZ (United States), 26 Feb - 2 Mar 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France; 2 refs
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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