Two Citizen Task Forces and the Challenge of the Evolving Nuclear Waste Siting Process

Siting any nuclear waste facility is problematic in today's climate of distrust toward nuclear agencies and fear of nuclear waste. This study compares and contrasts the siting and public participation processes as two citizen task forces dealt with their difficult responsibilities. Though one dealt with a high level waste (Monitored Retrievable Storage - MRS) proposal in Tennessee in 1985-6 and the other with a proposed low level waste facility in Illinois (1988 and still ongoing), the needs of citizen decision makers were very similar. Key differences were found in the communities themselves as well as in the siting and public participation (PP) processes. As a result, the two task forces performed different functions in these different contexts. Conclusions and recommendations for working with site stakeholders are outlined after comparison and analysis of the two cases.