The MRS Task Force: Economic and Non-Economic Incentives for Local Public Acceptance of a Proposed Nuclear Waste Packaging and Storage Facility

A joint Oak Ridge - Roane County citizen task force (TF) evaluated the<br/>Department of Energy&#39;s (DOE) proposal to site a Monitored Retrievable Storage<br/>facility in Tennessee in terms of environmental, transportation and socioeconomic<br/>impacts. The case study examines how the TF used mitigation, compensation and<br/>incentives (economic and non-economic) to address the problem of distrust of DOE<br/>and to change the net local impact balance from negative to positive. Intensive<br/>group interaction during their investigations and development of trust within the TF<br/>led to consensus decisions on safety and conditional acceptance. DOE accepted most<br/>of the TF conditions after informal negotiations. The siting process was stopped by<br/>extensive state-wide opposition resulting in legal challenge by the state and vetoes<br/>by the governor and state legislature.