Future land use and concerns about the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory: A survey of urban dwellers

TY - JOUR

T1 - Future land use and concerns about the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

T2 - A survey of urban dwellers

AU - Burger, Joanna

AU - Roush, Donny

AU - Wartenberg, Daniel

AU - Gochfeld, Michael

PY - 1999/11

Y1 - 1999/11

N2 - We examined environmental concerns and future land-use preferences of 487 people attending the Boise River Festival in Boise, Idaho, USA, about the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE). We were particularly interested in the perceptions of urban dwellers living at some distance from the facility, since attitudes and perceptions are usually examined for people living near such facilities. More than 50% of the people were most worried about contamination and about waste storage and transport, another 23% were concerned about human health and accidents and spills, and the rest listed other concerns such as jobs and the economy or education. When given a list of possible concerns, accidents and spills, storage of current nuclear materials, and storage of additional nuclear materials were rated the highest. Thus both open-ended and structured questions identified nuclear storage and accidents and spills as the most important concerns, even for people living far from a DOE site. The highest rated future land uses were: National Environmental Research Park, recreation (including hiking, camping, fishing and hunting), and returning the land to the Shoshone-Bannock tribes; the lowest rated future land uses were homes and increased nuclear waste storage. These relative rankings are similar to those obtained for other Idahoans living closer to the site and for people living near the Savannah River Site, another DOE facility in South Carolina. The concern expressed about accidents and spills and waste storage translated into a desire not to see additional waste brought to INEEL and a low rating for using INEEL for building homes.

AB - We examined environmental concerns and future land-use preferences of 487 people attending the Boise River Festival in Boise, Idaho, USA, about the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE). We were particularly interested in the perceptions of urban dwellers living at some distance from the facility, since attitudes and perceptions are usually examined for people living near such facilities. More than 50% of the people were most worried about contamination and about waste storage and transport, another 23% were concerned about human health and accidents and spills, and the rest listed other concerns such as jobs and the economy or education. When given a list of possible concerns, accidents and spills, storage of current nuclear materials, and storage of additional nuclear materials were rated the highest. Thus both open-ended and structured questions identified nuclear storage and accidents and spills as the most important concerns, even for people living far from a DOE site. The highest rated future land uses were: National Environmental Research Park, recreation (including hiking, camping, fishing and hunting), and returning the land to the Shoshone-Bannock tribes; the lowest rated future land uses were homes and increased nuclear waste storage. These relative rankings are similar to those obtained for other Idahoans living closer to the site and for people living near the Savannah River Site, another DOE facility in South Carolina. The concern expressed about accidents and spills and waste storage translated into a desire not to see additional waste brought to INEEL and a low rating for using INEEL for building homes.

KW - Department of Energy

KW - Future land use

KW - Hazardous waste

KW - Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

KW - Perceptions

KW - Recreation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032876829&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0032876829&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s002679900253

DO - 10.1007/s002679900253

M3 - Article

SN - 0364-152X

VL - 24

SP - 541

EP - 551

JO - Environmental Management

JF - Environmental Management

IS - 4

ER -