Conflict, location, and politics: Siting a nuclear waste repository
Nuclear power and the management of high-level radioactive waste is examined with the goal of explaining the forces driving the formulation of the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act and a subsequent decision to site a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The study draws upon geographic, political, economic, and organizational factors to examine the commitment to dispose of spent fuel in a geologic repository located in Nevada or in Utah, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, or at Hanford Washington. Special attention is given to the impact of location, science and technology on the definition of the nuclear waste problem and political agendas, public participation, and the power of the nuclear establishment. The study finds that the choice of a Yucca Mountain Nevada as the preferred site for a repository was based more on technological precedent and political-economic expediency than on the demonstrated superiority of that site`s geology. Conflict over a repository location is interpreted as a symptom of more fundamental conflicts concerning: the credibility of nuclear science, the legitimacy of federal authority and administration, and the priorities of environmental protection and a nuclear economy.
- Research Organization:
- Colorado Univ., Boulder, CO (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 137607
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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