Public Reactions to Nuclear Waste: Citizens' Views of Repository Siting

Nuclear waste is going nowhere, and neither is the debate over its disposal. The problem, growing every day, has proven intractable, with policymakers on one side, armed with daunting technical data, and the public on the other, declaring: not in my backyard. This timely volume offers a look past our present impasse into the nature and roots of public viewpoints on nuclear waste disposal.
A much-needed supplement to the largely technical literature on this problem, the book provides extensive studies of the reaction of citizens--whether rural or urban, near-site residents or prospective visitors--to proposed nuclear waste sites around the nation, particularly Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Conducted by distinguished sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, and economists, these studies constitute the most comprehensive account available of the impact of public perceptions and opinions on the nuclear waste policy process in the United States. As such, the collection will clarify the politics of nuclear waste siting and will give impetus to the stalled debate over the issue.

Contributors. Rodney K. Baxter, Julia G. Brody, Bruce Clary, Lori Cramer, William H. Desvousges, Riley E. Dunlap, Douglas Easterling, Judy K. Fleishman, James Flynn, William R. Freudenburg, Michael E. Kraft, Richard S. Krannich, Howard Kunreuther, Mark Layman, Ronald L. Little, Robert Cameron Mitchell, Alvin H. Mushkatel, Joanne M. Nigg, K. David Pijawka, Eugene A. Rosa, Paul Slovic

Author: Riley E. Dunlap
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 08/17/1993
Pages: 384
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.28lbs
Size: 9.16h x 6.44w x 0.97d
ISBN: 9780822313731

About the Author

Riley Dunlap is Professor of Sociology and Rural Sociology at Washington State University.

Michael E. Kraft is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Herbert Fisk Johnson Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.

Eugene A. Rosa is Professor of Sociology at Washington State University.