title: The role played by stakeholders in the public debate that brought Italy out of the club of nuclear energy producers.
abstract: In 1964, Italy was the fourth largest world producer of electricity generated by nuclear reactors, second in Europe only to United Kingdom. In subsequent years, various controversial political events contributed towards drastically slowing down the development of the Italian national nuclear program. The 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident, which caused a public outcry all over Europe, had particularly serious repercussions in Italy. In a controversial referendum, held in November 1987, Italian citizens voted to repeal three laws promoting the installation of nuclear power plants (NPP) on Italian soil and allowing the National Institute for Electrical Energy (ENEL) to participate in the construction of NPP's abroad. This work analyzes the reasons for that decision and the communication strategies of the stakeholders that took part in the public debate on nuclear energy during the weeks following the Chernobyl accident. Drawing from the methodologies used in media studies, a quantitative and qualitative analysis of two leading Italian newspapers was performed. The results reveal that a variety of stakeholders, upholding different values and interests, took part in the debate. There being no tradition of a public dialogue and participation in Italy, the debate was polarized to a "yes/no choice," which eventually caused Italy to abandon the production of nuclear power for civilian use.
authors.affiliation: Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Fisica and INFN, Via Celoria 16, I-20133 Milano, Italy. marie.cantone@unimi.it
authors.forename: Marie Claire
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Cantone
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sturloni
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brunelli
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods*; D003657:Decision Making; D007558:Italy; D009678:Nuclear Energy; D011639:Public Opinion; D011640:Public Policy; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*