Public Opinion Surveys in Spent Nuclear Fuel Management
Abstract
Russia's plans to import foreign SNF for storage and reprocessing meet serious public opposition. As a start of taking into account public concerns, programs of public involvement can be designed and implemented. In the paper, approaches to decision-making on spent nuclear fuel management that differ in their commitment to public participation are discussed. The review of public opinion surveys in Russia that investigated public attitudes to spent fuel is given. Finally, the experience of several countries that have made serious progress in spent fuel management is analyzed with particular attention paid to the programs of public involvement and public opinion surveys. The aim is to understand the role of public opinion surveys in decision-making in this field and to describe how the surveys can be designed and conducted. This information might be useful for designing the programs of public involvement in Russia.