RESOURCES

  During World War II, the United States began its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The Manhattan Project started in June 1942, and it took less than three years to develop a working atomic bomb. Shortly after World War II, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union began, and the research and development of nuclear weapons intensified. Up until the late 1980s, work was done in a network of facilities across the country that came to be known as the “nuclear weapons complex.”

This draft document is to facilitate a discussion during the 2023 Intergovernmental Meeting Breakout on Consent-Based  Siting.  There  are  many  factors  not  included  below  on  which  input  from  multiple perspectives is needed. 

 One possible way to implement a Consent Based Siting process is to take a progressive approach where in each  successive  step,  certain  criteria must  be  met  by  a  potential host  facility in  order  for  the  federal government entity (DOE or a new waste management organization as the “Selection Entity”) to allocate federal funds for feasibility and technical studies, and education and outreach efforts to build support.