Historical Application of a Social Amplification of Risk Model: Economic Impacts of Risk Events at Nuclear Weapons Facilities

Metz, William C.

doi:10.1111/j.1539-6924.1995.tb00776.x

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…(I8) While the public may possess intensely negative images of nuclear reactors and HLW, the actual economic choices of individuals appear to be made more on the basis of a pragmatic logic that relies on practical knowledge, experience, and the personal context of their attitudes and values. (19) Predictions of possible adverse economic impacts from perceptions and images must be reconciled with actual economic behavior before policy decisions can be made.…”

Section: Residential Property Value Change As An Indicator Of Concernmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Decisions About Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage on Residential Property Values

Metz

Clark

1997

Risk Analysis

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National, regional, state, and local surveys have revealed that people have intensely negative images of "nuclear" and "radioactive" technologies, activities, and facilities, as well as associated fears of stigmatization. In light of these perceptions, the debate over where to temporarily store or permanently dispose of spent nuclear fuel (at the reactor site, an interim storage facility, or a permanent repository) provokes immense concern among possible host jurisdictions. To address these concerns, one needs to know if people's subjective opinions conform with the choices they make and are therefore reflected in their economic behavior. Argonne National Laboratory researchers used a hedonic model to complete a study of residential property value dynamics over a 5-year period within a 15-mile radius of two California nuclear power plants. They tracked the economic ramifications of decisions about the spent nuclear fuel stored at those reactors. The study revealed that no significant negative effects on residential property values resulted from a decision to move spent nuclear fuel from wet storage to a dry-cask storage facility or from a request to extend the reactor operating permit (given future changes in the type of nuclear fuel storage facility that would accompany such an extension).

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Section: Residential Property Value Change As An Indicator Of Concernmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Decisions About Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage on Residential Property Values

Metz

Clark

1997

Risk Analysis

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“…This distinction seems less useful for perceptions of a biological research facility, which are relevant on both levels. At the same time, studies examining public opinion toward hazardous waste sites and research laboratories, a number of which also use the social amplification of risk as a theoretical framework, ( 22, 23 ) have not explored the possible role of interpersonal communication. Since, to our knowledge, there are no extant studies evaluating the effect of frequency of discussion on both risk and benefit perceptions, the nature of such a relationship (in terms of magnitude and direction) remains relatively unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpersonal Amplification of Risk? Citizen Discussions and Their Impact on Perceptions of Risks and Benefits of a Biological Research Facility

et al. 2010

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Much risk communication research has demonstrated how mass media can influence individual risk perceptions, but lacks a comprehensive conceptual understanding of another key channel of communication: interpersonal discussion. Using the social amplification of risk as a theoretical framework, we consider the potential for discussions to function as amplification stations. We explore this possibility using data from a public opinion survey of residents living in potential locations for a new biological research facility in the United States. Controlling for a variety of key information variables, our results show that two dimensions of discussion-frequency and valence-have impacts on residents' perceptions of the facility's benefits and its risks. We also explore the possibility that an individual's overall attitude moderates the effect of discussion on their perceptions of risks and benefits. Our results demonstrate the potential for discussions to operate as amplifiers or attenuators of perceptions of both risks and benefits.

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“…It seems that it is mainly used as a description of a recurrent phenomena for which there is no good, commonly accepted explanation. Mertz's (1996) article on economic impacts interpreted with the social amplication framework, contains a nice description of the concept and an example of the use to which it is put. 'Key negative events with high signal strength based on negative nuclear imagery and accompanying perceptions of managerial incompetence are hypothesized to elicit strong public reactions.'…”

Section: Is There Any Redundancy In the Approaches?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The theoretical features of some current approaches to risk perception

Wåhlberg¹

2001

Journal of Risk Research

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Three approaches to risk perception (RP), the psychometric, the Basic Risk Perception Model, and the social ampli cation of risk, are evaluated using four common criteria for scienti c theories. All approaches are found to meet the criterion of describing a large set of data, and for the psychometric approach and the Basic Risk Perception Model, the criterion of parsimony is ful lled. The criteria of falsi ability and generating testable hypotheses are not met by any of these approaches. It is concluded that there is not as much theory available in RP research as could be expected at face value, if theory is de ned as statements about causal mechanisms generating testable hypotheses. These three approaches instead quali es as models (here de ned as mathematical descriptions of data).

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Historical Application of a Social Amplification of Risk Model: Economic Impacts of Risk Events at Nuclear Weapons Facilities

Cited by 9 publications

References 14 publications

The Effect of Decisions About Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage on Residential Property Values

The Effect of Decisions About Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage on Residential Property Values

Interpersonal Amplification of Risk? Citizen Discussions and Their Impact on Perceptions of Risks and Benefits of a Biological Research Facility

The theoretical features of some current approaches to risk perception

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