Locational Conflict and the Siting of Nuclear Waste Disposal Repositories: An International Appraisal

The industrialized nations of the world have begun to plan for the storage and eventual disposal of their increasing volumes of nuclear wastes. In this paper the authors inventory the progress made by these nations in planning for nuclear waste disposal. A typology based on the adoption of spent-fuel reprocessing programs and of progress toward selection of permanent disposal sites is developed, and the world's nuclear nations are located within this typology. However, those countries which have been active in determining and constructing disposal sites have faced considerable internal and international political conflict. Conflict over nuclear waste disposal site-selection is both a geographical and a political problem. There is a review of various factors which contribute to the articulation and resolution of political conflict, including public participation in siting decisions, veto power of local governments, and prospects for international cooperation in siting decisions. It is concluded that decentralized democratic procedures, which emphasize public participation in siting decisions, have the strongest potential for conflict resolution.