Nuclear Waste Management and Environmental Mediation: An Exploratory Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible application of environmental conflict mediation techniques to the siting of a nuclear waste repository. Since much has been written about the issues in nuclear waste management ~n other contexts (see particularly Bishop, et al., 1978; Abrams, 1979; Hewlett, 1978; Interagency Review Group, 1979; Schilling & Nealey, 1979) our focus will be to describe and analyze the major characteristics of a range of techniques that can broadly be called environmental mediation. The uses of these techniques to date and their possible relevance for an 1ssue as complex as nuclear waste management will be discussed. We assume that the reader is not familiar with environmental mediation, but is somewhat knowledgeable about public controversy over nuclear waste management.