CVSA Level VI inspection program (the priority topics having been decided by a poll of the members). Perhaps one of the longer-lasting contributions of this group is the compilation of transportation-planning documents posted on the group’s wiki site, which a highly experienced former DOE staff member described as “very complete” (Transportation Planning AHWG 2015). Spent Nuclear Fuel Rail/Routing AHWG The R/R AHWG is the only one of the four DOE-NE-related ad hoc working groups that is still active in 2020. Organized in May 2015, the group held its first meeting at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the NTSF in Albuquerque, NewMexico. Prior to the meeting, a poll of the state and tribal representatives tapped to serve on the ad hoc working group revealed that the members’ priorities were rail routing, rail inspections, emergency response for SNF shipments by rail, and security (R/R AHWG 2015a, p. 1). At a subsequent meeting, the group settled on“Rail Routing Protocols and Rail Inspection Issues” as the two areas of focus (R/R AHWG 2015b, p. 1). For a detailed discussion of this group’s work, see the section on Rail Transportation . Spent Fuel Transportation Materials AHWG The last to form and the shortest-lived of all DOE-NE’s ad hoc working groups, the Spent Fuel Transportation Materials AHWG had an aggressive schedule, holding four calls and three meetings (one in-person) from November 2016 through September 2017. The purpose of the group was “to help DOE effectively and accurately communicate with stakeholders about spent fuel transportation”by providing input to DOE-NE on“developing messaging, strategies, and products to communicate effectively with states, Tribes, the public, and other stakeholders on transportation activities and issues” (SFT Materials AHWG 2017, p. 1). Co-led by Lisa Janairo and Ken Niles, the leaders of the original Communications AHWG that had been involved in DOE-NE’s first foray into public communication, the AHWG had a good mission and a great team of state and tribal participants to conduct the work. Two essential elements were lacking, however — notably, subject-matter expertise on the part of the DOE lead for the working group and support from DOE-NE management to fund the production of quality risk-communication materials for print and web delivery. Ultimately, though, the AHWG’s failure to achieve its mission was the simple fact that, without any prospects for constructing a site for storage or disposal, DOE-NE placed a very low priority on communicating about transportation. The Midwest had identified communication activities very early on as a long-lead time, non-site-specific activity that DOE-NE should under- take in collaboration with the states and Tribes, starting with develop- ing a communications plan and ending with preparing newmaterials, as needed (MRMTC 2012). DOE-NE opted not to engage the states and Tribes in communication planning and instead jumped straight to developing draft factsheets. Instead of beginning with thoughtful planning of a communications strategy — e.g., key messages, needed materials, audiences, media, etc. — the AHWG conversations soon became bogged down in discussions of phrasing and graphical ele- ments of factsheets whose value was not always apparent.
The group’s accomplishments over its short lifespan were input on a tribal issues webinar hosted by TRMTC; feedback on the factsheet developed by the Section 180(c) AHWG; a draft plan for a transportation-related webinar as part of DOE-NE’s Consent- Based Siting Initiative; drafts of five factsheets; and a draft purpose statement for the Transportation Core Group. With the exception of the tribal issues webinar, which TRMTC eventually hosted in 2018, this group’s work ultimately was to no avail. Tribal Engagement Forging stronger ties to tribal governments stands as one of the most welcome developments over the 10 years since CSG Midwest published the original Transportation Issues Archive. In 2018, the Midwest began a concerted, long- term effort to engage Tribes in the MRMTC’s work and to build relationships between the states and the Tribes whose lands are geographically situated in the Midwestern states. Intended as a way to benefit both the states and the Tribes, this fairly recent initiative is one way to rebuild the trust that may have been lost in the early days of DOE NE’s stakeholder engagement activities. DOE-NE’s initial engagement with tribal governments got off to a somewhat rocky start in 2013. In October 2012, the office convened the first meeting of the new Transportation Core Group without inviting Tribes to participate. The explanation DOE-NE gave at the time was that the NFST Planning Project had not yet decided how to engage tribal governments — specifically, whether to enlist the help of a coordinating body and, if so, which one. By comparison, reestablishing ties with the state regional groups had been a straightforward task because all four groups still existed and three of them still had cooperative agreements with other DOE offices. In addition, because of the sovereign status of tribal nations, DOE-NE was obligated to consult with Tribes on a government-to-government basis. For this reason, DOE-NE argued that engaging the Tribes required more forethought, preparation, and planning than engaging states through the SRGs. The Tribes were represented at the March 2013 meeting of the Transportation Core Group — the group’s second meeting — and much of the conversation centered on the need to engage the Tribes and options for doing so. At the meeting, DOE-NE noted that it had “involved five tribes and [would] continue outreach to increase involvement in the Core Group Meeting and other activities” (DOE-NE 2013b, p. 2). The Tribes present at the meeting emphasized the need for “staff support, educational information, and coordination of responses to DOE” (ibid.). It also was noted that “Tribes need parity with states regarding a partnership with DOE as this work progresses” (ibid.). In other words, the Tribes wished to have a coordinating body to provide staff support, similar to the way in which the SRGs assisted the states. Like the states, the Tribes requested the opportunity to participate in the
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