Future land use and concerns about the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory: A survey of urban dwellers
The authors examined environmental concerns and future land-use preferences of 487 people attending the Boise River Festival in Boise, Idaho, USA, about the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (NEEL), owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE). They were particularly interested in the perceptions of urban dwellers living at some distance from the facility, since attitudes and perceptions are usually examined for people living near such facilities. More than 50% of the people were most worried about contamination and about waste storage and transport, another 23% were concerned about human health and accidents and spills, and the rest listed other concerns such as jobs and the economy of education. When given a list of possible concerns, accidents and spills, storage of current nuclear materials, and storage of additional nuclear materials were rated the highest. Thus both open-ended and structured questions identified nuclear storage and accidents and spills as the most important concerns, even for people living far from a DOE site. The highest rated future land used were National Environmental Research Park, recreation, and returning the land to the Shoshone-Bannock tribes; the lowest rated future land uses were homes and increased nuclear waste storage. These relative rankings are similar to those obtained for other Idahoans living closer to the site and for the people living near the Savannah River Site. The concern expressed about accidents and spills and waste storage translated into a desire not to see additional waste brought to INEEL and a low rating for using INEEL for building homes.
- Research Organization:
- Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC01-95EW55084
- OSTI ID:
- 20001031
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Management, Vol. 24, Issue 4; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1999; ISSN 0364-152X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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