Public Acceptance of Nuclear Power - Some Ethical Issues

Since the last major International Atomic Energy Agency Conference on "Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy", nations have been obliged to adjust to significant new factors that have come to dominate the world energy market. At previous meetings, the industrialized nations were assuming a long-term future dependence on the use of nuclear energy for electric power generation. The developing nations were closely monitoring the circumstances governing investment in nuclear power but were for the most part acknowledging that for them the point of entry was some way off. The IAEA itself was acting to provide access to the nuclear option for those nations that were exploring the scale of their future commitment to nuclear energy. There was a certain fluidity in the situation as each nation examined its own position in the general programme of nuclear power development. Public opinion had, for the most part, acknowledged from a distance the availability of nuclear power. But it failed to perceive the implied future scale of dependence on nuclear energy and was apathetic to its social and ethical implications.