Positive Community Relations: The Keystone to the CEMP
- Desert Research Institute, Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, 755 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89119 (United States)
- Desert Research Institute, Division of Hydrological Sciences, 755 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89119 (United States)
The Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP), currently conducted by the Desert Research Institute (DRI) of the Nevada System of Higher Education for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration, is designed to monitor airborne radiological releases to the offsite environment from activities on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and to disseminate information. A key aspect of this program is the involvement of residents from local communities around the NTS in the management and operation of the program. After the March, 1979 accident at Three Mile Island (TMI), the DOE initiated the Citizens' Radiation Monitoring Program (CRMP) in order to provide the local residents with accurate information on the radiation health risks, and to rebuild trust and credibility. As a result, citizens around TMI had more confidence in the data because it was collected by community residents. Because of the positive results of the CRMP, a similar program was instituted in the communities around the NTS, where the U.S. was conducting its Nuclear Weapons Testing Program. Although a well-established monitoring program was in place, it was argued that the implementation of a similar community monitoring program would create monitoring stations located in highly visible locations where residents would be aware of their presence, and have access to the radiological data and the station managers. As a result, in 1981, the Community Monitoring Program, a cooperative project of the DOE, DRI, and EPA, consisting of 15 monitoring stations located in California, Nevada, and Utah was initiated. In 1999, technical administration of the CEMP was transitioned from EPA to DRI and the stations were upgraded to include a full suite of meteorological instrumentation in addition to radiation monitoring sensors, state-of-the-art electronic data collectors, and communications hardware enabling updates several times daily to a publicly-accessible web page. The CEMP has evolved into a program that currently includes 28 environmental and radiation monitoring stations located in communities around the NTS. Although the capabilities of the off-site monitoring program at NTS have and will continue to evolve, the fundamental keystone of the program continues to be positive community relations, expressed through operation of stations by local residents, dissemination of near-real time monitoring data through on-site displays and a CEMP web site, annual training of station operators, public outreach programs and, most importantly, the maintenance of personal relationships. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 13023, Tucson, AZ, 85732-3023 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21208658
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-09-WM-06176; TRN: US09V0969079445
- 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; 4 refs
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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