Developing Operating Procedures For A Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility

This document is to assist in the development of the training programs required to be in place for the operating license for a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. It consists of an introductory document and four additional appendixes of individual training program curricula. This information will provide the starting point for the more detailed facility-specific training programs that will be developed as the facility hires and trains new personnel and begins operation. This document is comprehensive and is intended as a guide for the development of a company- or facility-specific program. The individual licensee does not need to use this model training curriculum as written. Instead, this document can be used as a menu for the development, modification, or verification of customized training programs.

Many lament the difficulty of siting hazardous waste facilities that are intended to benefit the public at large but are locally unwanted. Many label local opposition as purely self-interested; as simply a function of the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) syndrome. Drawing upon the experience of states trying to site new low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities, Mary English argues that we need to think harder and look deeper, to understand--and, possibly, solve--the siting dilemma. The 1980 Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act ushered in a new era in low-level radioactive waste disposal; one of vastly increased state responsibility. By a 1985 amendment, states were given until January 1993 to develop a new system of disposal facilities. English reviews the progress they have made, focusing on one difficulty: that of finding technically and socially acceptable sites. She then turns to issues concerning authority, trust, risk, and justice that help to shape the siting dilemma. This book is made highly readable by vivid examples drawn from recent efforts to site low-level waste disposal facilities. The volume will be a helpful resource to those in the public and private sectors who are immediately concerned with the siting of radioactive waste disposal facilities, hazardous waste facilities, solid waste landfills, incinerators, etc., as well as social scientists who are studying this problem.