Alternatives

Major approaches to law and public policy, ranging from law and economics to the fundamental rights approach to constitutional law, are based on the belief that the identification of the correct social goals or values is the key to describing or prescribing law and public policy outcomes. In this book, Neil Komesar argues that this emphasis on goal choice ignores an essential element—institutional choice. Indeed, as important as determining our social goals is deciding which institution is best equipped to implement them—the market, the political process, or the adjucative process. Pointing out that all three institutions are massive, complex, and imperfect, Komesar develops a strategy for comparative institutional analysis that assesses variations in institutional ability. He then powerfully demonstrates the value of this analytical framework by using it to examine important contemporary issues ranging from tort reform to constitution-making.

The U.S. military has a stockpile of approximately 400,000 tons of excess, obsolete, or unserviceable munitions. About 60,000 tons are added to the stockpile each year. Munitions include projectiles, bombs, rockets, landmines, and missiles. Open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) of these munitions has been a common disposal practice for decades, although it has decreased significantly since 2011. OB/OD is relatively quick, procedurally straightforward, and inexpensive. However, the downside of OB and OD is that they release contaminants from the operation directly into the environment. Over time, a number of technology alternatives to OB/OD have become available and more are in research and development. Alternative technologies generally involve some type of contained destruction of the energetic materials, including contained burning or contained detonation as well as contained methods that forego combustion or detonation. Alternatives for the Demilitarization of Conventional Munitions reviews the current conventional munitions demilitarization stockpile and analyzes existing and emerging disposal, treatment, and reuse technologies. This report identifies and evaluates any barriers to full-scale deployment of alternatives to OB/OD or non-closed loop incineration/combustion, and provides recommendations to overcome such barriers.

The Second World War introduced the world to nuclear weapons and their consequences. Behind the scene of these nuclear weapons and an aspect of their consequences is radioactive waste. Radioactive waste has varying degrees of harmfulness and poses a problem when it comes to storage and disposal. Radioactive waste is usually kept below ground in varying containers, which depend on how radioactive the waste it. High-level radioactive waste (HLW) can be stored in underground carbon-steel tanks. However, radioactive waste must also be further immobilized to ensure our safety. There are several sites in the United States where high-level radioactive waste (HLW) are stored; including the Savannah River Site (SRS), established in 1950 to produce plutonium and tritium isotopes for defense purposes. In order to further immobilize the radioactive waste at this site an in-tank precipitation (ITP) process is utilized. Through this method, the sludge portion of the tank wastes is being removed and immobilized in borosilicate glass for eventual disposal in a geological repository. As a result, a highly alkaline salt, present in both liquid and solid forms, is produced. The salt contains cesium, strontium, actinides such as plutonium and neptunium, and other radionuclides. But is this the best method? The National Research Council (NRC) has empanelled a committee, at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), to provide an independent technical review of alternatives to the discontinued in-tank precipitation (ITP) process for treating the HLW stored in tanks at the SRS. Alternatives for High-Level Waste Salt Processing at the Savannah RIver Site summarizes the finding of the committee which sought to answer 4 questions including: "Was an appropriately comprehensive set of cesium partitioning alternatives identified and are there other alternatives that should be explored?" and "Are there significant barriers to the implementation of any of the preferred alternatives, taking into account their state of development and their ability to be integrated into the existing SRS HLW system?"

Tourism over the past three decades has grown phenomenally but is continually modified by ongoing events and forces—such as increasing or abating pollution and congestion issues, new forms of transportation, and altered economic, social, or political conditions. The contributions in this work are of great importance to the advancement of knowledge of tourism, and, as a first theoretical book in the area, it establishes a significant benchmark for subsequent tourism research. The volume includes contributions by tourism specialists from Australia, France, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States: Richard Butler, Professor of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Graham Dann, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of West Indies, Bridgetown, Barbados; Emanuel de Kadt, Director, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom; Bryan Farrell, Professor of Geography, University of California, Santa Cruz; Nelson H. Graburn, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley; Martinus J. Kosters, Director of the Netherlands Institute for Tourism and Transport, Breda; Marie-Françoise Lanfant, Director of Research, Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris; Dennison Nash, Professor of Anthropology, University of Connecticut; Douglas G. Pearce, Professor of Geography, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; John Pigram, Associate Professor of Geography and Planning and Executive Director, Center for Water Policy Research, University of New England, Armidale NSW, Australia; and Geoffrey Wall, Professor of Geography, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Tourism Alternatives is a provocative and important book that will be of interest to tourism planners at all levels of government and private enterprise, and to scholars and students in the fields of tourism and resort development.