Massachusetts nuclear power referendum: Lessons learned from the campaign trail

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:7027084

Allen, S R

Last November, Massachusetts voters cast their ballots on a binding initiative which, if passed, would have prohibited the production of high-level waste, thereby permanently shutting down the state's two nuclear power plants: Yankee and Pilgrim. Question 4, as the initiative became known, posed an unprecedented challenge for the state's six major utilities. Essentially, Question 4 was defeated for two reasons: compelling arguments and a well-founded strategy for communicating those arguments. One part of that strategy was the use of debates and public-speaking engagements before both civic groups and on radio/television. These debates and presentations were clearly the most interesting part of the campaign and provided many insights that may be applied to long-term public policy and informational programs. Obviously, there is a significant difference between an intense, focused campaign and an ongoing, diverse public information program-but many of the principles are the same. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the key lessons learned from over 300 debates and presentations in the highly emotional atmosphere of the Question 4 campaign. Throughout the campaign, debaters and speakers submitted after action reports, and it is from these as well as the overall campaign results that the lessons and anecdotes are derived.

• OSTI ID: 7027084
• Report Number(s): CONF-890604--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA) Journal Volume: 59
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
BWR TYPE REACTORS
COMMUNICATIONS
EDUCATION
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
INFORMATION
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR POWER
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PERFORMANCE
PERSONNEL
PILGRIM-1 REACTOR
PILGRIM-2 REACTOR
PILGRIM-3 REACTOR
POLITICAL ASPECTS
POWER
POWER PLANTS
POWER REACTORS
PUBLIC INFORMATION
PUBLIC OPINION
PUBLIC RELATIONS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR OPERATORS
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTORS
ROWE YANKEE REACTOR
SAFETY
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMAL REACTORS
TRAINING
US NRC
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS