Judging the Health Risks of Energy Systems

This chapter discusses perception and acceptance of risks from energy systems, with particular emphasis being placed on responses to nuclear power. Despite the importance of these questions, we are only beginning to understand the social and psychological factors that determine public responses to technological risks in general and from energy systems in particular. Evaluation of the risks from energy systems requires, of experts and lay people alike, an appreciation of the probabilistic nature of the world and an ability to think intelligently about unlikely, but consequential events. A characteristic feature of many risk debates is the confrontation between polarized views held with great confidence. The basic research cited above, supplemented by studies of perceptions of specific energy systems, could deepen our understanding of how and why people form attitudes towards those systems and what are the possibilities for greater societal consensus.