A cellular automation model for the change of public attitude regarding nuclear energy

A cellular automation model was constructed to investigate how public opinion on nuclear energy in Japan depends upon the information environment and personal communication between people. From simulation with this model, the following become clear; (i) society is a highly non-linear system with a self-organizing potential: (ii) in a society composed of one type of constituent member with homogeneous characteristics, the trend of public opinion is substantially changed only when the effort to ameliorate public acceptance over a long period of time, by means such as education, persuasion and advertisement, exceeds a certain threshold, and (iii) in the case when the amount of information on nuclear risk released from the newsmedia is reduced continuously from now on, the acceptability of nuclear energy is significantly improved so far as the extent of the reduction exceeds a certain threshold. (author)