EQUITY AND NUCLEAR WASTE-DISPOSAL

Following the recommendations of the US National Academy of Sciences a nd the mandates of the 1987 Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, the U S Department of Energy has proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the site of the world's first permanent repository for high-level nuclear wast e. The main justification for permanent disposal (as opposed to above- ground storage) is that it guarantees safety by means of waste isolati on. This essay argues, however, that considerations of equity (safer f or whom?) undercut,the safety rationale. The article surveys some prim a facie arguments for equity in the distribution of radwaste risks and then evaluates four objections that are based, respectively, on pract icality, compensation for risks, scepticism about duties to future gen erations, and the uranium criterion. The conclusion is that, at least under existing regulations and policies, permanent waste disposal is h ighly questionable, in part, because it fails to distribute risk equit ably or to compensate, in full, for this inequity.