Planning for the management of nuclear wastes -- whatever their level of radioactivity -- is one of the most important environmental problems for all societies that produce utility, industrial, medical, or other radioactive waste products. Attemps to site low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities in Western industrial societies, however, have repeatedly engendered conflicts between governments, encountered vehement opposition on the part of local citizen groups, and given rise to overt hostilities among involved parties. LLRW Disposal Facility Siting is the result of a study designed to learn more about the causes underlying failed and successful efforts to site LLRW disposal facilities. The study is based on case histories of LLRW disposal facility siting processes in six countries. Siting processes in five states within the United States and in five additional countries are analyzed using information obtained from public documents and supplemented by interviews with key participants. The selected states and countries are major generators of LLRW and each has made efforts to establish LLRW disposal facilities during the past decade. They vary widely in the approaches they have adopted to LLRW management, the institutional structures developed for managing the siting process, the means used to involve stakeholders and technical experts in the facility siting process and the amount and type of data used in making decisions. The analysis of these case histories provides general lessons about the advantages, disadvantages, strengths, and weaknesses of the various approaches that have been attempted or implemented. LLRW Disposal Facility Siting provides valuable data for academics and researchers working in the area of environmental management.

A crisis awaits the states without adequate Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) disposal capacity, and states now struggling to comply with U.S. National Policy-widely believed unworkable. Some states may find that they are unable to dispose of the LLRW they generate! Long underestimated-or politically boondoggled-the dread subject of LLRW disposal is now being brought to climax, amidst conflicting viewpoints from generators, regulators, environmentalists and the public...from...medical-clinical labs...nuclear power plants...state and federal agencies...scientists and engineers...consultants...attorneys. This book emphasizes siting, disposal, historical approach to radwaste regulation, public attitudes, and NIMBY. AND deals comprehensively with radiation, biological effects, risk assessment, public health protection and government regulation, safety of LLRW, biological effects, and attempts to develop solutions to this pervasive problem. This text is essential to those likely to find themselves engulfed by LLRW problem: scientists, engineers, managers in many companies and institutions, consultants, and, of course, Government Agency Officials, public interest groups, technical, social science, law, and public libraries. There is no easy solution-but there will be a solution. And we believe this book is part of that solution. Expert authors-provide chapters carefully researched and written for this book; and provide their personal and professional experiences. This book is certainly a step toward understanding and solving the LLRW problem.

This monograph contains the proceedings of the 9th Annual Symposium on Geo-aspects of Waste Management, February 1-6, 1987 held at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.