RISK PERCEPTION AND ENERGY-PRODUCTION

Mean risk magnitude judgments expressed by Belgian and French students on 107 items combining a particular energy domain (wood and biomass, coal, gas, oil, nuclear, water, wind, geothermal and solar) and a part icular aspect of the energy production process (obtaining raw material s, storage of raw materials, transport of raw materials, energy produc tion, waste products related to energy production, energy transport, w aste products transport, waste products storage, utilization of energy ) are reported, and analyzed. Questions were of the form: What is the level of risk (for health and the environment) associated with the ite m ''Electrical energy production by thermodynamic conversion''? Concer ning energy domains, nuclear energy received the highest ratings, almo st regardless of the aspect of the energy production process considere d (from the extraction of raw materials to the storage of production w astes). This was followed by oil, obtaining the next highest ratings a fter those for nuclear energy, then gas, considered more risky than bi omass and coal. The brand image of these two latter energy sources wou ld be almost as positive as that of water, solar, geothermal and wind energy if a solution could be found to the problem of atmospheric emis sion of carbon monoxide. Concerning production process aspects, waste products (as well as the transport and storage of waste) received the highest ratings. This is not unrelated to the fact that the vast major ity of studies devoted to a particular area or particular aspect have concerned nuclear waste. in contrast, no very high degree of concern w as found regarding the energy (electrical) transport aspect.