Anti-Nuclear Movement Discourse in the Countries of so Called "Nuclear Renaissance"

Since the first half of 2000s the world society has been observing the expansion of national nuclear energy programs in a number of countries, also called by nuclear power industry as “Nuclear Renaissance’. This development has been accompanied by the contemporary trend in public opinion showing positive attitude towards nuclear energy. The striking is, however, that this situation occurs in the countries with the history of significant anti-nuclear movements, e.g. Sweden.

The revival of nuclear energy programs, public opinion favouring the expansion of nuclear energy and the experience of anti-nuclear movements in the past are the points of departure for this study. The constellation of these circumstances in several countries encourages the following research questions to be considered in this paper. First of all, these national nuclear power strategies have affected the discourse of anti-nuclear movements, the primary task of this paper is to find out in what way. Then, the second question is to analyze how these policy changes account for a shift in contemporary understanding of nuclear energy by anti-nuclear movements. Thirdly, the connection between discursive opportunities embedded in these discourses and movement mobilization is studied. Finally, the paper aims to discuss whether there is a change in public perception of nuclear energy.

Several explanations and events are responsible for the mentioned changes, among others are the issue of climate change and the accident at Fukushima-Daiichi. This paper explores to what extent and how these turning points become part of the anti-nuclear movement discourse.

In terms of methodology this study is based on discourse analysis.