Re: Why nuclear is a "no-win" in the USA

["Kent N. Lambert" <lambert@auhs.edu>]

On  5 Sep 97 at 8:43, Charles Willis wrote:
...
> Public meetings?  I seem to do a lot of  these, but without the kind
> of success I would like.  I come prepard to respond to the comments
> and to try to build raport with the people who are there.  I know it
> would be better if I were younger and prettier, but I haven't been
> able to work that out.  Still, it seems that principal problem is
> that the people who attend these meetings are primarily interested
> in saying something outrageous enough to get them on TV.  At the
> recent meeting near Watts Bar, for example, calling us "war
> criminals" got one lady her 10 seconds on local TV.  It is
> interesting, but the environment is not friendly, orr conducive to
> conveying information.
...
I am definitely younger than Charles (but I am catching up with him); 
however, I am by no means prettier.  

At a local public meeting in a town in Southern New Jersey, the New 
Jersey Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Siting Commission invited 
me to represent the local chapter of the Health Physics Society with 
an informational booth about radiation and radioactivity.  I was not 
there as a promoter for, or an antagonist against the site.  A local 
resident walked up to me, describe me as excrement, ("You're bleep!") 
turned around and walked away.  Who out there thinks that he was 
interested in learning about radioactive material, its uses and 
properties in order to make an informed decision on whether the site 
was safe or in the community's best interest?  

The media sets the rules (actually the public does) and the anti's 
have learned how to play the game.  We have learned the rules, 
studied the anti's winning tactics, and yet still try to play the 
game using strategies that we know will fail.  Although it may be 
against our nature, we need to generate our own 10 second sound 
bites.  If this is how messages get across to the public, and we have 
a message, then we need to format our message accordingly.  

BTW, the town dissolved their study group (NJ has a volunteer 
siting process) within a week of the public meeting because of the 
divisions it created in the community.

Kent N. Lambert, M.S., CHP
lambert@auhs.edu
Allegheny University of the Health Sciences
Hahnemann Division
Radiation Physics and Safety, MS 106
Broad and Vine Streets
Philadelphia, PA  19102-1192

215-762-8768 (voice)
215-762-7683 (fax)  

Disclaimer:  All opinions are well reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not (necessarily) the opinions of my employer.