Nuclear Accidents

1Assessment and Perception of Nuclear Risk

1.1. Introduction

Nuclear power, whether in the form of military applications, in particular atomic bombs, or civilian use in electricity generation, lacks a positive image. We might say that it has had a bad press, among the public, whatever the country. This is partly a result of the origin in war of the use of nuclear energy and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb disasters. This has been reinforced by accidents, including the two major accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima. It is certainly also a result, at least in France, of the technopolitical regime of the French nuclear power program and strong criticism of it by social movements. Chambru [CHA 15] traces the emergence and deployment of the anti-nuclear phenomenon within the public arena, with the aim of capturing this protest effervescence and reintroducing it into political analysis. He notes that criticism by the anti-nuclear movement has never ceased since its inception more than four decades ago. Today, it is embodied particularly in the refusal of the anti-nuclear movement to participate in the consultation mechanisms set up by public authorities, such as the public debates organized under the aegis of the Commission Nationale du Débat Public (CNDP).

For three years, Colmellere [COL 14] conducted a pedagogical device for public debate on a project to install a nuclear reactor as part of a sociology course for second-year engineers at the Ecole Centrale Paris. It concerns ...