Risk Perceptions in France: Before, During and After the Chernobyl Tenth Anniversary. J. Brenot, IPSN/DPHD/SEGR, BP 6, F-92265 Fontenay aux Roses Cedex, telephone (+33) 1 46 54 81 59, fax (+33) 1 46 54 88 29, e-mail: brenot@mandrake.cea.fr; C. Mays, SYMLOG, BP 125, F-94232 Cachan Cedex, telephone (+33) 1 47 40 09 90, fax (+33) 1 47 40 82 58, e-mail mays @mandrake.cea.fr; and S. Bonnefous, IPSN/DPHD/SEGR, BP 6, F-92265 Fontenay aux Roses Cedex, telephone (+33) 1 46 54 81 59, fax (+33) 1 46 54 88 29
As part of the CEC-sponsored study "RISKPERCOM", risk perceptions by the French public were studied at three periods in 1996: before, during and after the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl accident (April 26, around which date significant media attention to the event was measured). A single questionnaire was submitted to representative national samples in February, April and September 1996. The questionnaire examined individual perceptions of radiation, technological, natural and health or lifestyle risks, and investigated management and communication issues (demand for risk reduction, trust in institutions, information demand, opinion change in relation to the Chernobyl event, etc.). Some five hundred replies were obtained for each questionnaire wave. We examine evolutions - or lack of evolution - in public perceptions. The perceptual image of French and Eastern European nuclear power plants is studied with reference to the Social Amplification of Risk framework. Background data are furnished by the Risk Perception Barometer of the IPSN (June 1996).
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