Perceived Dangers of Nuclear Power: Results from a Recent Social Survey

Abstract

Why is the public acceptance of the nuclear power policy less than enthusiastic?

This article is an exploratory investigation of the public's general perceptions and

attitudes toward nuclear power, and is also intended to provide useful information or developing further approaches to gaining the public acceptance of nuclear power. The findings from the national opinion survey indicate that a large proportion of the public have little understanding of nuclear power and radioactive waste, and even worse, they hold negative perceptions about them. No doubt the preoccupation with the destructive power and the doubtfulness about the safety of nuclear power in the public mind increase the overall negative perceptions about nuclear power. Despite these negative perceptions, the public attitudes toward nuclear power are found to be ambivalent. The considerable discrepancy found in people's ambivalent reactions to nuclear power, not necessarily unique to nuclear related matters, suggests that it is one thing to support nuclear power policy, but it is another to welcome nuclear facilities into one's own neighborhood.