Nuclear power and the public

AbstractOpinion polls show that public support for nuclear power has declined since the Fukushima crisis began, not only in Japan but also in other nations around the world. People oppose nuclear power for a variety of reasons, but the predominant concern is the perception that it is a risky technology. Some communities that are closely associated with it even suffer from stigmatization. The nuclear industry has tried a variety of strategies to break down public resistance to nuclear power—including information campaigns, risk comparisons, and efforts to promote nuclear power as a solution to climate change. None of these strategies has worked well, mostly because the public lacks trust in the nuclear industry. Public resistance to nuclear power is likely to continue, making it difficult to site and build new reactors. This resistance may be a major obstacle to the rapid expansion of nuclear power. Keywordsclimate changedreadNIMBYnuclear powerpublic oppositionriskstigma Notes1 Short video clips can be seen on YouTube at www. youtube. com/watch? v=4biD0₀SoXM and www. youtube. com/watch? v=tZW7M0CIbRM. 2 For example, a poll that begins with a reference to the Fukushima disaster would find lower levels of support for nuclear power than a poll that begins by informing participants that nuclear power has no greenhouse gas emissions. 3 There are also striking differences in public preferences when categorized by age, ethnicity, race, gender, and other demographic characteristics (CitationGreenberg, 2009). A widely observed phenomenon is the "white male effect, " that is, a preference for nuclear power among educated and relatively affluent white males in part because they tend to have greater levels of trust in authority. 4 Wearing a seat belt, for example, reduces the chances of fatal accidents significantly. In contrast, those living in the vicinity of the Chernobyl reactor had no control over the accident that occurred in 1986. 5 In contrast, about 50 percent of the people were unlikely to trust a university scientist on nuclear power. 6 Passive safety features are those based on natural forces such as convection and gravity, rather than on active systems and components such as pumps and valves. Additional informationAuthor biographyM. V. Ramana is currently appointed jointly with the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, both at Princeton University, and works on the future of nuclear energy in the context of climate change and nuclear disarmament. He is the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India, to be published later this year by Penguin. Ramana is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials and the Bulletin's Science and Security Board.