Diaz-Maurin, F. (2014). Going beyond the nuclear controversy. Environmental Science & Technology, 48(1): 25–26.

The controversy over nuclear power has been one of the fiercest scientific debates since the 1970s with a continuous evolution of the narratives used on the two sides. The controversy can be attributed to the impossibility of generating a shared perception between social actors over the use of this technology. In fact, one can easily find contrasting – and even opposite – perceptions over nuclear power that simultaneously appears as “clean, secure and cheap” to some, or “dirty, dangerous and not cost-effective” to others. Scientists are thus facing a clear dilemma when dealing with the “nuclear predicament”. This problem lies in the unavoidable existence of different social actors expressing non-equivalent but legitimate perceptions of the same issue based on their values, beliefs and goals. This seems to demonstrate that there is no truth about nuclear power.

Links

Article (open access): http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es405282z
Direct download: Download paper
Pre-print: http://www.academia.edu/5461972/Going_beyond_the_nuclear_controversy