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Consent-Based Siting: What Have We Learned?

The president realized that the nation lacked a clear policy for developing a deep-mined geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. New legislation would be required to chart a more promising path forward. The views of multiple parties had to be taken into account. He decided to create a high-level body to ventilate the issues involved and to make recommendations. He charged the group with holding public meetings and soliciting comments on draft documents to make the deliberations as transparent as possible.

Interim Storage, Environmental Justice, and Generational Equity

With the termination of the Yucca Mountain project, which was proposed to be our nation’s first repository for the disposal of military and civilian spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, the future of nuclear waste management and disposal in this country became increasingly uncertain. Interim storage has been advocated by many as a temporary solution while a permanent solution is studied for potentially several more decades to come.

Expanding the Conceptual and Analytical Basis of Energy Justice: Beyond the Three-Tenet Framework

Energy justice is now an established research topic in the field of energy policy. Despite the growing popularity of energy justice research, however, conceptual and analytical frameworks used in the field have remained limited. This paper reviews the prevailing three-tenet framework of energy justice which has shaped the current discourse based on the three dimensions—distributional, procedural, and recognition justice.

Developing a Siting Strategy for a Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Facility

Although different policies for radioactive waste management, including nuclear fuel waste (NFW), have developed in different countries, the basic challenge is the same everywhere: finding a method and a place for isolating the radioactive waste from the biosphere. During the last decade, this issue has moved to a new phase where responsible authorities and companies are now facing the task of implementing waste disposal or management strategies. A number of countries (e.g.

Justice in 100 Metrics: Tools for Measuring Equity in 100% Renewable Energy Policy Implementation

This report reviews existing literature and compiles equity metrics for the implementation of 100% renewable energy policy. We created this literature review for energy regulators and communities engaged in energy rulemaking proceedings in particular. The content may also be adapted to address equity initiatives within utilities, and used by advocates in independent efforts to hold utilities accountable to equity standards.

U.S. Nuclear Plant Shutdowns, State Interventions, and Policy Concerns

The United States has the largest nuclear power plant fleet in the world, with 93 reactors that can generate approximately 95,522 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Nuclear power has accounted for about 20% of annual U.S. electricity generation since the late 1980s; in 2020 it was 19.7%. However, the U.S. nuclear power industry in recent years has been facing economic and financial challenges, particularly plants located in competitive power markets where natural gas and renewable power generators influence wholesale electricity prices. Twelve U.S.

Addressing Environmental Justice Through NEPA

Some Members of Congress and the Biden Administration are exploring how to use the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to ensure that environmental laws and policies fairly treat and reflect input from all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income. This principle is commonly referred to as “environmental justice.” Congress enacted NEPA in 1969 to require federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of proposed federal actions prior to making decisions.

How the Concept of Dignity Is Relevant to the Study of Energy Poverty and Energy Justice

Since the concept of energy poverty first emerged, studies have combined normative orientations, analytical approaches and policy review to engage with energy deprivation as a problematic feature of contemporary societies. Over the past decade, this scholarship has aimed to conceptualize the normative grounds for critique, empirical work and policy design when engaging with the interplay of social life and energy systems.

Advancing Racial Equity: A Framework for Federal Agencies

Systemic racial inequities pervade all areas of life in the United States, more than five decades after the legal gains secured by the civil rights movement. The federal government has both the power and the responsibility to address and end these inequities that burden our country. Toward this end, the Biden-Harris administration has mandated federal agencies to embed racial equity across the breadth and depth of government. This requires nothing less than reshaping how the federal government serves its people.

Free Prior and Informed Consent: An indigenous peoples’ right and a good practice for local communities

This Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) Manual is designed as a tool for project practitioners (herein referred as project managers) for a broad range of projects and programmes (hereinafter to be referred to as projects) of any development organization, by providing information about the right to FPIC and how it can be implemented in six steps.

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