Nuclear energy and the media

The author believes that it is very important for the public to understand the scientific and engineering realities of nuclear energy systems, so that their support for or their opposition to energy policy decisions will not be based on false premises. While there do exist widespread misconceptions about the safety of nuclear energy, these misconceptions spring from the high degree of emphasis placed on engineered safety by the nuclear energy community in their communications with the public. That this situation continues to exist is largely the result of either a failure of the technocrats to require their professional communicators to learn the elements of the subject or a refusal of these communicators to do so, combined with an underestimation on the part of both groups of public capacity for understanding. The nuclear energy community's concern about public acceptance of its product is to a certain extent misplaced at the present time. Its communication efforts have been image-oriented and generalized and have eschewed technical rigour. The important issue of scientific and engineering illiteracy, especially among those groups with significant input to policy decisions, is being neglected