The dilemma of siting a high-level nuclear waste depository

In the Dilemma of Siting a High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository, the authors examine siting conflicts from a variety of perspectives - political, psychological, and sociological - and identify the fundamental determinants of public opposition to waste-disposal facilities as a means of designing more effective approaches to solving the typical siting dilemma.

In assessing the causes of public opposition, the book draws on various surveys of attitudes toward the repository as a function of predictors such as perceptions of risk, benefits and fairness.

One of the primary conclusions is that the current impasse in the siting of a HLNW repository stems primarily from a lack of national consensus on the need for such a facility. The book also recommends the need for a "fair" siting process and the authors strongly favor a voluntary process to solve the siting dilemma. Finally, the book focuses on the problems associated with siting a HLNW repository by treating this case as a generic example of the more basic siting dilemma.

The analysis of public opposition and the recommendations for successful siting can be generalized to almost any attempt to site a noxious facility.