Explores the dilemma of siting a high-level nuclear waste (HLNW) repository. This book examines siting conflicts from different perspectives: political, psychological, and sociological and identifies the fundamental determinants of public opposition to waste disposal facilities as a means of designing better approach to solve the siting dilemma.

Such a process was initiated in the US by the 1987 Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act; the process of finding a volunteer site has proven to be difficult, but there are signs that this process can work. 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 we make for successful siting can be generalized to almost any attempt to site a noxious facility.

I: The Siting Dilemma. 1. Introduction. 2. The Dilemma of Siting a High-level Waste Repository. 3. A Framework for Examining Siting Efforts. II: Public Opposition to a Repository. 4. The Dynamics of Public Opposition. 5. Objection 1: Noxious Impacts. 6. Objection 2: Doubts about the Appropriateness of a Repository. 7. Objection 3: Inequity in Outcome and Process. III: Empirical Analyses of Repository Attitudes. 8. Models of Public Acceptance. 9. The Doughnut Effect. IV: Current Strategies for Overcoming Opposition to a Repository. 10. Scientifically Based Choice of Technology. 11. Reducing Public Perceptions of Risks. 12. Compensation and Benefit Sharing. 13. Fairness in Site Selection. V: Recommendations for Successful Siting. 14. A Siting Process to Gain Public Acceptance. 15. Applying the Voluntary Approach to Permanent Disposal.