The accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant on March 2011 has had a major effect on the public perception of nuclear energy worldwide. In Europe, its psychological impact has been particularly strong, as it happened exactly twenty-five years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986. On a continent where the highest number of nuclear plants is concentrated, it has led several countries, including Germany, to call for a phase-out, while other nuclear powers, such as France and the United Kingdom, have kept their nuclear policies unchanged, and reaffirmed their projects to build new plants. These profound divisions among European countries raise the question of whether the “nuclear renaissance” will be revisited. This article examines the media reactions to the Fukushima accident in several European countries, and the political decisions that followed, in order to evaluate the European responses to Fukushima. It focuses on the different perceptions and their direct effects on the political decisions taken in European countries.
Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries
