Experts' and the Public's Perceived Risk of Nuclear Waste. Lennart Sjöberg and Britt-Marie Drottz-Sjöberg, Center for Risk Research, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden
Differences in risk perception between experts and the public have often been observed. In this paper we study the phenomenon in the field of nuclear waste risk and attempt to explain it by, among other things, background factors, education and degree of expertise. A random sample of the population responded to a questionnaire dealing with many aspects of perceived nuclear risk. Most of these questions were also used in a sample of nuclear waste experts, and a control group consisting of graduate engineers with other areas of specialization. The expected, extremely large, differences between experts and the public occurred; experts rating nuclear waste risks as very small and the public rating them as much larger. Experts tended to agree that the nuclear waste issue was largely solved while the public strongly felt the opposite. These risk perceptions were also reflected in differing intentions to vote in a local referendum about a waste repository. Non-nuclear risks, on the other hand, were rated by experts and the public in similar manners. The control group gave ratings in between these. two extremes. Further controls are made for background data (most experts were male). The results are discussed in terms of various theoretical approaches to risk perception and professionalization. Opinion polls which have indicated that the majority of Swedes now accept a nuclear waste repository in their local region are compared to the present results; methodological weaknesses of the polls are suggested as explanations of the inconsistent results.