Public Beliefs, Concerns and Preferences Regarding the Management of Used Nuclear Fuel and High Level Radioactive Waste
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US policy for management of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and high level radioactive wastes (HLRW) is at a crossroads, and the success of new policy directions will depend in part on broad public acceptance and support. In this paper I provide an overview of the evidence concerning the beliefs and concerns of members of the American public regarding UNF and HLNW. I also characterize the evidence on American’s policy preferences for management of these materials. Findings from a number of recent sources of evidence on public views are synthesized for this purpose, but the discussion chiefly relies on data provided by an on-going time-series analysis of public beliefs and preferences concerning energy and environmental issues, called the National Security and Nuclear Policies (NSNP) project that is sponsored by the Sandia National Laboratories and conducted by the University of Oklahoma.1 I conclude with recommendations for additional research efforts that would serve to enhance understanding of public preferences for UNF and HLNW management.
The discussion is organized to flow from general to more specific beliefs.2 I first summarize available evidence on public beliefs and concerns about nuclear energy, focusing on public understandings of radiation and current UNF management practices. I then trace the evolution of public attitudes about nuclear energy over the past decade, including perceived risks and benefits as well as preferences for continued reliance on nuclear energy for the generation of electricity. The paper then turns to evidence concerning preferences for UNF management. I discuss data from several sources regarding preferences for general strategies, such as continued on-site storage or centralized deep-geologic storage. Available measures of more specific preferences concerning issues of retrieval capabilities for repository design and reprocessing are also considered. I then describe the available evidence on the effect of proximity of a proposed repository on public support within a host community. Finally, the concluding section of this paper turns to the question of what more needs to be understood about public beliefs and preferences for managing UNF and HLRW.
In summarizing what is known about public beliefs regarding the management of UNF and HLRW, this paper relies on measures of public views and perceptions that are derived from systematic survey data (that is, data derived from surveys utilizing recognized standards of commercial or academic survey research) collected within the decade. The available evidence is uneven: while a number of systematic survey research initiatives concerning general attitudes about nuclear energy have been maintained over recent years, those focusing on public preferences for managing UNF and HLRW have been relatively rare. In characterizing the body of evidence, I describe general results with attention to technical matters (e.g., survey design issues, question wording, survey modes) only in those instances in which such matters bear directly on understanding of the results.
