Perceived risk and related attitudes have been implicated as major factors in many of the difficult policy problems that face modern society (nuclear power, genetically modified food, etc). Experts often argue that no or very small risks are involved; people are still worried. Why? The standard answer is lack of trust. Data on trust and risk perception, however, point to only a weak relationshi...

The siting of nuclear waste facilities has been very difficult in all countries. Recent experience in Sweden indicates, however, that it may be possible, under certain circumstances, to gain local support for the siting of a high-level nuclear waste (HLNW) repository. The article reports on a study of attitudes and risk perceptions of people living in four municipalities in Sweden where HLNW si...

Seabirds exposed to even a dime-sized amount of oil can die of hypothermia in cold-water regions, but despite repeated requests by Environment Canada, offshore oil operators are failing when it comes to self-monitoring of small oil spills, says new research. Chronic pollution from many small oil spills may have greater population-level impacts on seabirds than a single large spill, suggest rese...

Over the past 50 years a comprehensive regulatory framework for radioactive substances in the UK has been progressively introduced, important initial milestones being the white paper Cmnd 884 and the Radioactive Substances Act 1960. During the 1970s and 1980s there were a succession of enquiries and white papers which developed from the growing awareness of the problems of the nuclear waste leg...