Congratulations to Dr. Robert Hayes, associate professor, and Lisa Marshall, assistant extension professor, recipients of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Consent-Based Siting Consortia award. Collaborators include yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region (CA), Mothers for Nuclear (CA), and the Tribal Consent Based Coalition – Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant (CA).
Consent-based siting is an approach to siting facilities that focuses on the needs and concerns of people and communities and centers equity and environmental justice. Communities participate in the process by working through a series of phases and steps with the DOE, helping them determine whether and how hosting a facility to manage spent nuclear fuel is aligned to their goals. Each consortium, thirteen in total, will collectively help the DOE facilitate engagement activities and dialogue. They will each lead inclusive community and stakeholder engagement efforts, elicit public feedback to refine the DOE’s consent-based siting process, and develop strategies that support mutual learning. Throughout this process, DOE and the consent-based siting consortia will work together to build equity and environmental justice principles into the engagement processes.
Dr. Hayes’ research areas span nuclear nonproliferation including nuclear assay and retrospective dosimetry. He also finds health physics, nuclear crtiticality safety, burnup, shielding, nuclear waste disposal and novel detection methods of interest, particularly when they relate back to nonproliferation. Dr. Hayes is a Certified Health Physicist and a licensed Professional Engineer (nuclear) with industry and field experience in radiological emergency response, nuclear waste management, nuclear safety, radiation dosimetry, nuclear criticality safety, air monitoring, ALARA and shielding design.
Professor Marshall is the assistant extension professor & director of outreach, retention & engagement and is responsible for pre-college through graduate level initiatives. She teaches courses at the first-year engineering level. Professor Marshall has developed and teaches an upper-level energy geographies course. Her research areas span engineering education, diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM, geographic information systems (GIS), research methodology, and energy geography with an emphasis on nuclear power.
The U.S. DOE awarded $26 million in funding for groups of university, nonprofit, and private-sector partners that will work with communities interested in the DOE’s community-centered approach to storing and disposing of spent nuclear fuel. The DOE, along with these consortia, will continue working with communities to ensure transparency and local support.