Communicating science and energy in public-lessons from the real world

摘要

For over 20 years, the nuclear industry in the United States has been feared, misunderstood, reviled, and abused. After years of this confusion, the American public remains tentative. Today, nuclear energy provides nearly 22% of the nation's electricity enough for 60 million households, and exceeds the total electricity production in the United States for 1954 This is an obscure way of saying that electrical production capacity in the US has quintupled since 1954. In spite of this major contribution the electrical energy mix for the US it is still a poorly understood technology. This paper examines some of the reasonsfor the persistence of the fear and misunderstanding. In so doing the lessons learned from extensive experiences in public communications in science and energy are very instructive, not only for future nuclear construction in the US, but also for other technologies which are similarly misunderstood.