Nuclear metaphors: Why risk communication and public education haven't worked

Conference · Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:5013520

Flank, S; Hansen, K ^[1]

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1. Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge (United States)

Broad public acceptability is a necessary condition for the future success of nuclear power in the US and will be determined by the way the public perceives nuclear power - specifically, through nuclear power's metaphoric equivalences. A content analysis of a cross section of the debate over nuclear power shows that the public does not share a single concept of what nuclear power is - nuclear energy has yet to be firmly anchored in a particular context or caught in a web of relations to the rest of society. The political battleground for the contest over nuclear power is not patterns of risk perception or shortcomings in public education but rather nuclear power as metaphor. For example, is nuclear power a factory producing electricity, or is it indistinguishable from nuclear weapons By highlighting the metaphors that underlie competing conceptions of nuclear power, one can illuminate parts of the political debate that otherwise are consigned to psychology, irrationality, or ignorance. Understanding these metaphors also makes clear the kind of deep changes that would be necessary to secure public acceptance of nuclear power.

• OSTI ID: 5013520
• Report Number(s): CONF-911107-; CODEN: TANSA
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 64; Conference: 1991 Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) session on fundamentals of fusion reactor thermal hydraulics, San Francisco, CA (United States), 10-15 Nov 1991; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
NUCLEAR POWER
PUBLIC OPINION
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
POLITICAL ASPECTS
PUBLIC INFORMATION
PUBLIC RELATIONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SPENT FUELS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUELS
INFORMATION
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
POWER
PUBLIC UTILITIES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
REACTOR MATERIALS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WEAPONS
290600* - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy