Citizen Board Issues and Local Newspaper Coverage of Risk, Remediation, and Environmental Management: Six U.S. Nuclear Weapons Facilities

摘要

We examined site-specific advisory board (SSAB) minutes and local newspaper coverage of the Fernald, Hanford, Idaho, Oak Ridge, Rocky Flats, and Savannah River sites of the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE) in order to determine the importance of risk-related issues related to remediation and other forms of environmental management. About one-third of SSAB issues were risk-related, and these were disproportionately major issues at meetings. The media focused on risks associated with remediation and other forms of waste management. The analysis implies that contractors and government officials need to establish and maintain communications with advisory panels and accentuate these contacts well in advance of contemplated new actions.