Massachusetts nuclear power referendum: Lessons learned from the campaign trail
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-; CODEN: TANSA; TRN: 90-023683
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA), Vol. 59; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Nuclear Society, Atlanta, GA (USA), 4-8 Jun 1989; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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POLICY AND ECONOMY
NUCLEAR POWER
PUBLIC RELATIONS
COMMUNICATIONS
EDUCATION
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PERFORMANCE
PILGRIM-1 REACTOR
PILGRIM-2 REACTOR
PILGRIM-3 REACTOR
POLITICAL ASPECTS
PUBLIC INFORMATION
PUBLIC OPINION
REACTOR OPERATORS
REACTOR SAFETY
ROWE YANKEE REACTOR
TRAINING
US NRC
BWR TYPE REACTORS
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
INFORMATION
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PERSONNEL
POWER
POWER PLANTS
POWER REACTORS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTORS
SAFETY
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMAL REACTORS
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
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290600* - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy