Food for Thought: Belgian Publisher Says Nuclear Industry Should Engage Public on a More Emotional Level
From WNA's World Nuclear News:
A nuclear plant as the setting for a new hit TV series? Popular entertainment media could prove to be more effective at engaging public support and acceptance for nuclear energy than past industry attempts to convince the world of nuclear's merits.He may be on to something. It could be entertaining yet informative to see a show where bad guys try to take over a nuclear plant and the plant's security team takes them down. Or maybe to see a show about the emotional public hearings on licensing new plants and re-licensing existing plants. Or maybe to see how nuclear plant operators react when an intense situation like an earthquake or a hurricane hits...
In a special presentation to the World Nuclear Association's 34th Annual Symposium, Belgian publisher and former nuclear engineer Alain Michel exhorted the nuclear industry to make more efforts to engage public support on an emotional level - and popular entertainment media would be the perfect platform to achieve this.
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After ten years of research on how public opinion of nuclear activities is affected by emotional influences such as television, film or books, Michel is convinced that nuclear communication should be more emotive. Pointing to the success of popular television series on a worldwide scale in raising the profile of certain professions - the CSI franchise and forensic medicine being but one example - Michel suggests that nuclear activities as the backdrop for a television series could simply help nuclear energy to become more familiar to everyone, not just those who happen to live near a nuclear power plant. The role of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors could be the potential subject for such a series, posits Michel...
Comments
~wink~
(Secrets for sale)
On the other hand, a CSI-like program would be interesting to watch. What with the electron microscopic details of atomic fission revealed and rescuing the world from climate change catastrophe. Hi-ho Silver, away!
The key is to get the right scriptwriters. Like the guys who wrote the scripts for "Major Dad".
One of the phrases that I use in my passionate, mostly water cooler type, talks about nuclear energy is "the most boring watch on a submarine is the reactor operator". A well designed plant is sort of like the energizer bunny - it works fine, lasts a long time. It boringly puts out massive quantities of energy.
The real dramatic show that might be very useful at this particular time in the technological history would be one that focused on the process of building new plants, going through the competitive process of getting them sited, figuring out the best technology to solve certain issues, and teaching people how to be good contributors within the demanding industry.
The human interest part could focus on the back stories of the people, the sacrifices that they make and perhaps even the adjustments that they have to perform in order to fit into the safety culture.
Emotional appeals - no...
Leave "change we can believe in" and "yes we can" to those who need them.
We're not breaking legs with policy after offering free crutches on the campaign trail.
Q: if the backdrop doesn't comes in to focus occasionally why permanently set it there in the first place?
A: a show about _realistic_ people going about their work at a _realistic_ low-trouble nuclear plant would be to condition/inform the viewers to be more accepting of them in general. But the drama still has to come from somewhere to make those not interested in documentaries watch it...
A show about a regulatory inspector would lend itself too easily to tales of cover-ups and bad dealings.
How about setting it in a _town_ with a NPP... The main character/s husband/wife/son/daughter works there, mention it once then leave it at that (like GRLCowan said) They're an average family. Maybe in the fourth or fifth episode the NPP is featured as the worker gets told-off for letting his child in to see the pump room or something.
This show has been on the air for two decades now.