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Title: Retrospective on lessons from 1985 Tennessee MRS attempted siting: The local view

Conference · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)
OSTI ID:7310076
 [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

Six years have elapsed since the unsuccessful US Department of Energy (DOE) effort to site a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility in Tennessee. The local MRS task force (TF) effort in 1985 has been described extensively in prior publications. These articles described the successful interactions between DOE and the local TF in the context of extensive state and regional opposition. The MRS TF found that while the proposed facility could be safe, many conditions were needed to ensure its long-term safety and to change the net benefit balance from negative to positive. The DOE and the TF reached agreement on many of the TF conditions but were still far apart on others when negotiations ended in 1985. The local governments that had created the TF unanimously accepted its conclusion. The governor of Tennessee eventually vetoed the siting process, and the state sued in 1985 to stop the DOE from continuing its efforts. When Tennessee's legal block was removed in 1987, DOE presented its MRS recommendations to Congress. Two brief periods of activity among the TF and local political leaders included testimony in 1987 before two Congressional committees and before the MRS Study Commission in 1989. This testimony sought those additional conditions for siting the DOE had not given in its negotiations with the TF. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate key points and lessons learned from this path-breaking effort by a local unpaid TF of citizens and elected officials through its entire life until disbanding in 1989.

OSTI ID:
7310076
Report Number(s):
CONF-911107-; CODEN: TANSA
Journal Information:
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 64; Conference: 1991 Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) session on fundamentals of fusion reactor thermal hydraulics, San Francisco, CA (United States), 10-15 Nov 1991; ISSN 0003-018X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English