The failure of nuclear experts and ordinary people to listen to and understand each other is the biggest barrier to solving the world’s radioactive waste problem. That’s an inescapable conclusion from a thought-provoking review of HBO’s new documentary Atomic Homefront in the latest edition of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist. The public lack trust in the nuclear sector. The sector seems to have an almost institutionalised inability to grasp the social, political and non-technical dimensions of public concern. This means dialogue regularly ends up like a CNN panel discussion with opposing views talking over each other and at cross purposes. A lot of energy and effort to go nowhere, and everyone repeatedly re-trenching to their respective camps, confused and exacerbated. As Britain and other countries agonisingly address how to permanently dispose of their radioactive waste, resolving this failure of dialogue becomes of paramount importance. The onus is on the nuclear and public sectors to creatively and radically review how they interact with the public. To establish the common ground required to advance this debate.
GDF Watch 13th June 2018 read more »
