Common Ground 2050: Public Engagement and Ambition as Preconditions for National Nuclear Readiness with Integrated Waste Management

The overall goal of this project is to advance use-inspired knowledge and analytical approaches for characterizing and assessing regional ambition as well as public engagement in the context of national readiness for integrated nuclear waste management. In doing so, this project develops methodological frameworks, indicators, models and typologies that complement those for the Common Ground Consortium (CGC). Additionally, the project fosters theory-building that will bridge principles and theory on utility functions, mutual gains, collective action, national readiness, and engagement. Description, scope, methods, and deliverables: Today's net zero and energy security priorities underscore the importance of nuclear energy. Yet, a national strategy for consolidated interim storage of spent nuclear fuel and long-term storage of waste remains to be more fully realized. This project systematically compares factors influencing ambition and engagement in current cases of spent nuclear fuel/nuclear waste siting in the US and Canada. We leverage a mixed methods approach (quantitative, qualitative and geospatial) to account for drivers, degrees of influence, and logics underpinning ambition and risk-benefit considerations (tradeoffs and weighting); to characterize engagement across cases relative to governmental and private sector involvement; and to examine the role of champions and trusted information flows. This nuanced approach of understudied conditions should yield valuable insights to support a more informed strategy for integrated waste management. Deliverables will include (1) methodological frameworks with indicators for evaluating ambition, riskbenefit logic, engagement, influences and decision making; (2) in-depth assessments of contemporary and cases of relevance in the U.S. and Canada; (3) conceptual models, typologies, and theory-building to explain varied configurations and functional relationships for engagement and adoption ambition; and (4) peerreviewed articles and reports with recommendations, including future research. The above will support ongoing consent-based siting efforts by the US DOE, the Common Ground Consortium (CGC) and other consortia as well as groups related to the management of nuclear facilities. Major participants will include cross-sectoral stakeholders associated with the studied cases, including experts from industry, civic organizations, and public agencies. Outcomes are expected to improve applied knowledge and approaches for consent-based siting of the nation's spent nuclear fuel, nuclear waste and/or new nuclear plants with a more engaged public. New research directions are also expected to be opened with the tools, theory-building and findings The project builds on a unique combination of capabilities with a multi-disciplinary team of experts from Boise State, University of Alaska, University of Idaho and United Global Technologies.