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Social and Economic Aspects of Radioactive Waste Disposal Considerations for Institutional Management Pane! on Social and Economic Aspects of Radioactive Waste Management Board on Radioactive Waste Management Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1984
NationalAcademy Press 2101 Constitution Avenue,bnY Washington, DC 20418 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the panel responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, which establishes the Academy as a private, nonprofit, self-governing membership corporation. The Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the conduct of their services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970, respectively, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences. This study was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under DOE Contract No. DE-AT01-80NE93030. This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government. Neither the United States nor the United States Department of Energy, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 84-60101 International Standard Book Number 0-309-03444-2 First Printing, April 1984 Second Printing, April 1986 Printed in the United States of America
Pane] on Social and Economic Aspects of Radioactive Waste Management ROGER E. KASPERSON, Clark University, Chairman FREDERICK R. ANDERSON, University of Utah IRVIN V. BUPP, Harvard Business School NANCY DORFMAN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology E. LINN DRAPER, Gulf States Utility Company JAMES A. FAY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology GERALD GARVEY, Princeton University JIM HARDING, Friends of the Earth Foundation TODD R. LAPORTE, University of California, Berkeley KAI N. LEE, University of Washington SAMUEL LEINHARDT, Carnegie-Mellon University ALAN S. MANNE, Stanford University DENTON E. MORRISON, Michigan State University JOHN E. SELEY, Queens College, The City University of New York JULIAN WOLPERT, Princeton University GARY L. DOWNEY, National Research Council Fellow Staff SUSAN M. DOWNEY PETER B. MYERS JOHN S. SIEG · · ~ 111
Board on Radioactive Waste Management KONRAD B. KRAUSKOPF, Stanford University, Chairman FRANK L. PARKER, Vanderbilt University, Vice-Chairman ALBERT CARNESALE, Harvard University MERRIL EISENBUD, New York University Medical Center G. ROSS HEATH, Oregon State University ROGER E. KASPERSON, Clark University PHILIP E. LAMOREAUX, University of Alabama KAI N. LEE, University of Washington JOHN M. MATUSZEK, New York State Department of Health THOMAS H. PIGFORD, University of California, Berkeley ROBERT H. SILSBEE, Cornell University LAURENCE L. SLOSS, Northwestern University SUSAN WILTSHIRE, Research and Planning, Inc., Cambridge Massachusetts PETER B. MYERS, Staff Director iv
Commission on Physical Sciences Mathematics, and Resources HERBERT FRIEDMAN, National Research Council, Chairman ELKAN R. BLOUT, Harvard Medical School WILLIAM BROWDER, Princeton University BERNARD F. BURKE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology HERMAN CHERNOFF, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MILDRED S. DRESSELHAUS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology WALTER R. ECKE~MANN, Sohio Petroleum Company JOSEPH L. FISHER, Office of the Governor, Commonwealth of Virginia JAMES C. FLETCHER, University of Pittsburgh WILLIAM A. FOWLER, California Institute of Technology GERHART FRIEDLANDER, Brookhaven National Laboratory EDWARD A. FRIEMAN, Science Applications, Inc. EDWARD D. GOLDBERG, Scripps Institution of Oceanography CHARLES L. HOSLER, JR., Pennsylvania State University KONRAD B. KRAUSKOPF, Stanford University CHARLES J. MANKIN, Oklahoma Geological Survey WALTER H. MUNK, Scripps Institution of Oceanography GEORGE E. PAKE, Xerox Research Center ROBERT E. SIEVERS, University of Colorado HOWARD E. SIMMONS, JR., E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. JOHN D. SPENGLER, Harvard School of Public Health HATTEN S. YODER, JR., Carnegie Institution of Washington RAPHAEL G. KASPER, Executive Director v
IN MEMORIAM Angus Campbell 1910-1980 Angus Campbell was chairman of the Panel on Social and Economic Aspects of Radioactive Waste Management until his death on December 15, 1980. Noted for his pioneering work in survey research, Dr. Campbell was a professor of psychology and sociology at the University of Michigan. He helped to found and then directed the University's Institute for Social Research. Dr. Campbell wrote several books and was considered an authoritative source on voting behavior, race relations, and the quality of life. He helped to establish the University of Michigan's Political Behavior Program, under whose sponsorship The American Voter (1960) was published. Consisting of a series of monographs with which Dr. Campbell was heavily involved, this document is considered to have had a seminal influence on the discipline of political science. His final book, The Sense of Well-Being in America, was published shortly before he died. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1980. vii
Preface In the spring of 1979 the National Research Council (NRC) Committee (later Board) on Radioactive Waste Management (BROOM) had the opportunity to comment on a presentation by a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contractor on a proposed study of nontechnical criteria for siting geologic repositories for high-level nuclear wastes. As a result of its consideration and ensuing discussions with DOE staff, the BROOM elected to submit a proposal to DOE for an assessment of what is known about these important criteria. The proposal was favorably received, and a DOE contract was awarded for a study of the social and economic aspects of radioactive waste disposal. Specifics on the panel mandate appear in Chapter 1 of this report. The panel established under the aegis of the BROOM held the first of its nine meetings in March 1980 under the chairmanship of Angus Campbell. Following Dr. Campbell's untimely death in December 1980, Roger Kasperson accepted the responsibilities of chairman. The panel benefited from briefings by members of the DOE technical staff and the Department's contractors and from the staff of the Oak Ridge and Sandia National Laboratories with particular attention to radioactive waste transportation. Additional helpful briefings and information were provided by representatives of the Mitre Corporation, the Office of Technology Assessment, and others. In an effort to obtain a broad range of reactions from interested public sectors on the scope and methods of its study, the panel solicited views from almost a thousand individuals and organizations that had demonstrated previous interest in government activities involving radioactive waste management. Slightly less than 10 ix
percent of those solicited responded. The panel also devoted a substantial portion of one of its meetings to a wide-ranging open discussion of its approach to its study with four representatives of environmental organizations selected by the panel. In addition to providing counsel throughout the study, members of the BROOM conducted a formal review of the panel's report, as did selected members of the parent Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources. A. Henry Schilling of the Battelle Human Affairs Research Centers provided a critical review of the treatment of institutional issues in Chapter 5. The panel thanks Gary Downey, who worked with them as a National Research Council Fellow. The project's first staff officer was Susan Stuen Downey. After her resignation from the National Research Council staff late in 1981, John Sieg served as staff officer until early 1983, when the Staff Director of the BROOM, Peter Myers, added the role of staff officer to his duties and saw the project through to completion. The study secretaries were, initially, Dee Cooper and, later Betty King. x
\ Contents 1. Summary . Approach of This Study Major Socioeconomic Considerations Major Findings 2. Public Concerns . . . The Data Base The Emergence of Public Concerns Demographic Correlates of Public Concern The Causes of Public Concern: Alternative Hypotheses The Nature of Hazard Value Conflict Institutional Credibility and Distrust Methodological and Data-Base Limitations Findings References for Chapter 2 3. The Waste Management Network: The Role of Transportation and Repository Location The Waste Management System in Operation A Reference Case A Single, Centralized Repository or a Regional System? Temporary Storage Prior to Permanent Isolation Transport Mode Findings References for Chapter 3 xi 3 6 9 15 16 18 21 26 31 33 35 38 42 42 48 49 51 56 75 77 79 81
4. The Waste Repository Site: Characteristics and Socioeconomic Considerations . ~ . . The Repository Site: A Description Conventional Effects Special Effects Influence of Time and Distance on Waste Management Activities Local Effects Along Transportation Corridors Mitigation and Compensation Findings References for Chapter 4 . . . . . 5. Institutional Issues . · Institutional Themes in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 Public Participation Regulation of Transportation Findings References for Chapter 5 Appendix A: Spent-Fuel Transportation Analysis for the National Academy of Sciences . . . . Appendix B: Supplementary Comments on Chapter 5 · ~ X11 ~e e 83 86 88 100 101 102 103 105 107 112 113 119 123 128 129 133 167
Social and Economic Aspects of Radioactive Waste Disposal Considerations for Institutional Management
