Background
Recently, plans to develop nuclear power plants in the Netherlands to address climate change has been dusted off. While the nuclear accident at Fukushima reminded us of the risks of nuclear energy, causing countries to build down their nuclear energy capacity, the risks of climate change are perhaps more daunting and driving us in the opposite direction. Interestingly, while some countries are reducing their nuclear power supply because of its risks (e.g. Germany), other countries are planning to increase it (e.g. the Netherlands and France) because of climate change, but ironically leading to cross-border risks in case of an accident.
In this study, you investigate emotional responses of citizens towards nuclear energy plants in a specific area and study what underlies it. Emotional responses to energy technologies have recently been argued to result from values and moral considerations (Contzen et al., 2021; Perlaviciute et al., 2018). Building further on that, you investigate how biosperic and anthropocentric values, as well as moral considerations, affect citizens’ emotions towards nuclear power plants in light of the recent developments. You can also build further on earlier psychological research around nuclear energy (e.g. de Groot et al., 2013; de Groot & Steg, 2010) and ethical research that discusses values and emotions in the context of nuclear energy (e.g. Roeser, 2011; van de Poel et al., 2020).
Research questions
Which values and moral considerations underly emotions about nuclear energy?
Type of research
Survey research, mixed method
Keywords
Nuclear energy, risk perception, moral considerations, values, emotions
Information
If you are interested in this topic, please contact Steven Watson via s.j.watson@utwente.nl.
Literature
Contzen, N., Perlaviciute, G., Sadat-Razavi, P., & Steg, L. (2021). Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value Congruence. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 2583. https://doi.org/10.3389/FPSYG.2021.661314
de Groot, J. I. M., & Steg, L. (2010). Morality and Nuclear Energy: Perceptions of Risks and Benefits, Personal Norms, and Willingness to Take Action Related to Nuclear Energy. Risk Analysis, 30(9), 1363–1373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2010.01419.x
de Groot, J. I. M., Steg, L., & Poortinga, W. (2013). Values, Perceived Risks and Benefits, and Acceptability of Nuclear Energy. Risk Analysis, 33(2), 307–317. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1539-6924.2012.01845.X
Perlaviciute, G., Steg, L., Contzen, N., Roeser, S., & Huijts, N. (2018). Emotional responses to energy projects: Insights for responsible decision making in a sustainable energy transition. Sustainability (Switzerland), 10(7), 2526. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072526
Roeser, S. (2011). Nuclear Energy, Risks, and Emotions. Philosophy and Technology, 24, 197–201.
van de Poel, I., Taebi, B., & de Wildt, T. (2020). Engineering and social responsibility accounting for values in the development and design of new nuclear reactors. Bridge, 50(3), 59–65.