Phase IV-B. Tasks 8.5 and 8.6

Attempts by the federal government and the nuclear industry to develop sites for disposal of high-level and low-level radioactive wastes have been stymied by public and political opposition The record of strenuous protest against nuclear waste repositories, as well as the findings of numerous public opinion surveys, make it clear that public opposition is widespread and deeply felt. It is also clear that there is an immense gap between the perceptions of the public and the views of technical experts and nuclear-industry officials. Given the seriousness of nuclear waste as a public issue, it is surprising that there have been only a few attempts to understand the deeper meaning of nuclear fears and opposition to nuclear waste disposal sites, and to provide some insight into the nature and pervasiveness of people's concerns. One step toward a deeper understanding would be to define the origins of these concerns, the emotions and images that underlie them, and their tractability or stability over time. We focus, in this study, on the imagery associated with a nuclear waste repository. The idea that images and perceptions influence people's attitudes and behaviors has a long history, going back to the origins of western civilization. More recently, a number o