Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Connecticut's development of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.

GAO found that: (1) the Connecticut Hazardous Waste Management Service applied 67 criteria to reduce site selection to eight potential sites; (2) Citizens Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) concluded that the site selection process was fundamentally flawed, lacked scientific rigor, and precluded an objective analysis; (3) CORE questioned whether the Service had met a site selection plan requirement not to locate the low-level radioactive waste facility in a highly populated area; (4) the Service did not adequately answer public concerns after it announced the proposed sites; (5) the Service prevented public knowledge of all interim site screening and selection results until it had made its decision on the three candidate sites; and (6) Connecticut provides financial incentives and other benefits to host communities to overcome local resistance to nuclear facilities and to reduce the burdens of hosting such facilities.