IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF TRANSPORTATION OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

The study provides an assessment of the range of social impacts that have occurred or may result from the transportation of radioactive materials through urban environments. These impacts are identified by retrospectively examining representative cases and reviewing selections from the theoretical and the technical literatures on social impacts. The likelihood of social impacts occurring in the future is assessed on the basis of observed impacts to date. The study analyzes five categories of social impacts (psychological, sociological, political, legal, and organizational) resulting from four causative transportation events (incident free, vehicular accidents, human errors and deviations from accepted quality assurance practices, and malevolent acts). The methods of analysis include evaluations of public opinion surveys, selected literature reviews, analysis of selected case studies, interviews with knowledgeable officials and citizens, legal analyses, review of relevant informed professional judgement. This study concludes that political and legal impacts have been more substantial than psychological and sociological impacts, and for a given magnitude of physical consequences, radioactive materials transportation has greater social impacts than hazardous materials transportation generally. Malevolent acts, among the four causative event categories, appear to hold the greatest potential for severe social impacts.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Also pub. as Battelle Human Affairs Research Centers, Seattle, WA. rept. no. B-HARC-411-049.
• Corporate Authors:

  Sandia Laboratories

  P.O. Box 5800
  Albuquerque, NM  United States  87115

  Nuclear Regulatory Commission

  Engineering Standards Division, 1717 H Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20555
• Authors:
  • Cluett, C
  • Greene, M
  • Morris, F
  • Rankin, W
  • WEISS, C
• Publication Date: 1980-7

Media Info

• Pagination: 199 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Evaluation; Freight transportation; Impact studies; Legal factors; Politics; Psychological aspects; Public opinion; Quality assurance; Radioactive materials; Social factors; Social impacts; Social psychology; Terrorism; Traffic crashes; Transportation; Urban areas
• Uncontrolled Terms: Motor vehicle accidents
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors; Society; Transportation (General); I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00327535
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAND-79-7032
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 18 1981 12:00AM