Nuclear accident reminders and support for nuclear energy: Paradoxical effect

Three experiments investigated the impact of nuclear accident reminders on support for nuclear power, as a function of initial attitudes towards environmental protection. Data were collected in France, where nuclear plants produce approximately 80% of the country's electricity, and where this is a highly politicized issue. Nuclear accident reminders were expected to lead individuals relatively low in environmental protection concern to paradoxically increase their support for nuclear energy (compared to a control condition), while those high in environmental protection concern were expected to decrease their support for nuclear energy. Taken together, results confirm the hypothesis for those weakly concerned with environmental protection. Also, this effect persisted for at least two weeks, effects of nuclear accident reminders were parallel to effects of mortality salience, and subliminal primes were as efficient as supraliminal primes, suggesting that the effect is unconscious. The processes that produce these effects and their policy implications are discussed.