Remember the old saying, “Think global, act local”? Well, if there is one issue that naturally transcends national borders—where challenges are interconnected and solutions need to be shared—it’s radioactive waste management.
At Tellus we are always keen to develop international connections and partnerships—to listen to the best in global thought leadership, and hopefully contribute to it.
That’s the impetus that took Tellus CEO Nate Smith and members of his senior executive team to Rockville, near Washington, D.C., back in March of this year, to the headquarters of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
The NRC regulates commercial nuclear power plants and other uses of nuclear materials, such as in nuclear medicine, through licensing, inspection and enforcement of its requirements. The agency’s motto, “Protecting People and the Environment,” promises a natural overlap between its mission and ours at Tellus.
That promise was realised in a productive conversation between the Tellus team and NRC Commissioner David A. Wright. It was an exchange that allowed us to introduce Tellus to key US regulators, and to better understand how the US manages radioactive waste.
One of the productive areas of overlap was the issue of building partnerships with traditional owners. An issue being managed by the NRC is the clean-up of 500 former mining sites on tribal lands in the US. Nate was able to share Tellus’ valuable experience in “consent-based siting” and building partnerships based on trust, and respect for Indigenous knowledge, with Native Title holders.
Cover image courtesy of Kilian Karger