A Multiattribute Utility Analysis of Sites Nominated for Characterization for the First Radioactive-Waste Repository--A Decision-Aiding Methodology

The Department of Energy (DOE), pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954
as amended, the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the Department of Energy
Organization Act of 1977, and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (the Act),
has the responsibility to provide for the disposal of high-level radioactive
waste and spent nuclear fuel.* The DOE selected mined geologic repositories
as the preferred means for the disposal of commercially generated high-level
radioactive waste and spent fuel (Federal Register, Vol. 46, p. 26677, May 14,
1981) after evaluating various means for the disposal of these materials and
issuing an environmental impact statement. To carry out this decision, the
DOE has been conducting research and development and performing siting studies.
The Act established a process and schedule for siting two geologic repositories
by integrating the then-existing DOE siting program into its requirements
and procedures. As explained later in this chapter, the Act requires the
Secretary of Energy to nominate not fewer than five sites as suitable for site
characterization and subsequently to recommend three of the nominated sites to
the President as candidate sites for characterization. Site characterization
will involve the collection of detailed information on the geologic, hydrologic,
and other characteristics of the site that determine compliance with the
requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Nuclear Reguulatory
Commission (NRC). It will involve the construction of exploratory
shafts to the depth at which a repository would be built and in-situ testing.
In parallel with these subsurface investigations, the DOE will collect information
on the demographic, socioeconomic, and ecological characteristics of the
affected areas containing the sites approved for site characterization. These
subsurface and surface investigations are expected to cost upward of 500 million
dollars per site.
This report presents a formal analysis of the five sites nominated as
suitable for characterization for the first repository; the analysis is based
on the information contained or referenced in the environmental assessments
that accompany the site nominations (DOE, 1986a-e). It is intended to aid in the site-recommendation decision by providing insights into the comparative
advantages and disadvantages of each site. Because no formal analysis can
account for all the factors important to a decision as complex as recommending
sites for characterization, this study will not form the sole basis for that
decision. To help the reader understand the context of the formal study and of
subsequent decisions, the remainder of this chapter presents additional background
information on the geologic repository concept, the Act, and the DOE
siting process, before and after the passage of the Act.