Analyzing the significance of distinctly communicating about possible radiological risk information with the community*

The production of energy from nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the United States has been ongoing for several decades. Over the course of their operation, NPPs have generated substantial quantities of spent fuel, exceeding the storage capacity of spent fuel pools. As a result, Spent Fuel Storage Installations employing dry cask technology have emerged as a practical solution.

The Collaboration-Based Siting project has been collecting information through workshops held across the United States. One of the Department of Energy’s consortia members, North Carolina State University, is collaborating with the nonprofit organizations Native Nuclear and Mothers for Nuclear. Workshop participants were given two surveys, administered both before and after the sessions, to capture their perspectives and feedback on used nuclear fuel and radiological risk. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank (WSR) test was used to calculate p-values and evaluate the hypotheses.

A case study conducted in Salt Lake City, Illinois, found that the public is particularly concerned with environmental impacts, the costs of spent fuel management, technological reliability, contributions to climate change, and the risk of terrorist threats. Statistical analysis revealed that p-values for several measures were less than alpha (0.05), leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis that public communication and education can enable more risk informed decisions. These findings highlight the value of community engagement in shaping public understanding around the long-term management of used nuclear fuel and even nuclear energy.