DECIDEDLY DIFFERENT - EXPERT AND PUBLIC VIEWS OF RISKS FROM A RADIOACTIVE-WASTE REPOSITORY

A questionnaire with items that had been used in a national survey of the general public was administered to persons attending an American N uclear Society meeting. The items asked about risks associated with hi gh-level nuclear waste (HLNW), trust in nuclear-waste program managers , costs and benefits of a repository project, and images of a HLNW rep ository. The results suggest that nuclear industry experts may have ve ry different opinions from the general public about most of these item s and their images of a repository indicate a vastly different concept ual framework within which their opinions are formed.