Public Attitudes on Nuclear Energy and Anti-Nuclear Movements

More and more the Division of Public Information of the IAEA is contacted by journalists and members of the public as well as international groups whenever a nuclear incident or accident occurs or when there is even a rumour of an accident or incident. This has increased with the introduction of the seven step international nuclear event scale INIS of the IAEA. Under the INIS scheme Member States report nuclear events, incidents and accidents to the IAEA. An important purpose of INIS and its seven level severity ranking scale is to help media and the public to comprehend the degree of seriousness of any such events. Please allow me now to present a short overview on the attitudes on nuclear energy and anti-nuclear movements in different countries on the basis of my own experience. I want to point out that it is my own opinion and not that of the International Atomic Energy Agency. At the end of 1992 nuclear power again showed up as a considerable source of electricity production in the world. Overall 425 nuclear power plants were in operation in 28 countries. They provided about 17 percent of the world's electricity, almost as much as the hydropower plants