Sociotechnical Readiness Level and Natural Language Processing: Tools for Measuring and Managing Societal Acceptance of Nuclear Energy

Public acceptance is essential for advancing nuclear energy, given persistent concerns about safety, environmental impact, and historical accidents. This research examines how nuclear energy producers employ public relations (PR) strategies to shape public opinion and enhance nuclear technology’s sociotechnical readiness level (SRL). The study investigates factors affecting societal acceptance by analyzing influential information sources, exploring the structure of online communities, and utilizing natural language processing (NLP) techniques. It addresses key questions regarding influential information channels, opinion leaders on social platforms, the management of PR efforts by nuclear companies, and the use of NLP to map SRL based on public discourse. Findings reveal that public sentiment toward nuclear energy is highly volatile and significantly shaped by current events, underscoring the need for proactive PR strategies that stabilize public perception. By integrating sentiment analysis and topic modeling into an SRL-based framework, this study provides actionable insights into the societal acceptance process, ultimately supporting more targeted engagement and communication practices in the nuclear sector.