Nuclear Communications: Facts Alone are Not Persuasive - TR2016c 5h13m06s06f
Channel: Thorium Remix
Date: 2017-03-23

http://ThoriumRemix.com/ Robert Stone, director of "Pandora's Promise" on the challenge of trying to address anti-nuclear attitudes armed with nothing but facts.

The social science on how to influence attitudes is clear: Offering a strictly fact-based argument can backfire, as people who are already strongly opposed to nuclear power cling tighter to their anti-nuclear beliefs, and also become motivated to act.

What is needed is an aspirational message, as "renewable" energy sources have crafted. That is to say, renewable energy is branded as decentralized, revolutionary and disruptive.

Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 are contrasted in their societal and technological accomplishments. Why did President Kennedy call for a Moon landing instead of a Lunar fly-by? Looking back we can see the societal benefits of the Apollo program occurred before any Moon landing took place.

Kennedy asked for a Moon landing because it was an understandable goal. Not some technical detail distinguishing Low Earth Orbit from true space travel. "Landing on the Moon" is a phrase everyone can intuitively parse.

Similarly, nuclear communications needs an easily understandable goal. Today's nuclear technology of Pressurized Water Reactors are capable of replacing combustion to generate electricity... but not much more. 

Kirk Sorensen reviews NASA's technological advancements that made Apollo 8 possible. All made possible by a clear call-to-action.

Atomic Power used to be communicated in terms like Kennedy used, to demand his Moon landing. Abundant energy. Pollution-free energy. "Too cheap to meter."

Reducing the cost of electricity down to that of our broadband connections, where "unlimited data plans" are now available in some regions, requires more than simply replacing coal with nuclear. It requires that energy itself become a byproduct of industrial process heat, valuable fission products and water desalination.

That is a pitch comparable to those made by renewable advocates. It is aspirational, and does not depend on playing whack-a-mole with anti-nuclear FUD campaigns.

Music by KiloWatts: http://KiloWattsMusic.com/