A study on the public perception in nuclear area in Brazil

During the course of the last years the need for the increase in the electric energy production in Brazil as well as in the rest of the world, has raised the tone of the debate about the environment impact of such production. As a result of these debates, both the several levels of government and some of the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) have commissioned innumerous opinion researches aiming at measuring and evaluating the knowledge and perception of the public in relation of the best non-polluting energy sources. Prior to 2001 these researches would not make any sense in Brazil., however due to that year's drought, the competent authorities were faced with the necessity of developing a plan, the Plano Nacional de Energia (PNE2030) aiming, among others objectives, at finalizing the construction of the Angra 3 plant and implementing new nuclear plants in places still to be determined. Allowing for the complexity of the subject, this paper presents a field research conducted from 28th September 2010 to 28th October 2010 assessing the current level of perception of the Brazilian population about the nuclear area, in particular of the residents of three cities of Rio de Janeiro. As a result of this work, we suggest how the competent authorities should proceed to reach in an efficient manner a greater understanding of the population about the proposed subject, through communication campaigns being both informative and educational. (author)