Transcript Dr Alex Tsela - When Will the Public Support

NUCLEAR AFRICA 2014
Midrand
19 March 2014
Dr Simanga Alex Tsela
Mzansi Energy Solutions & Innovation
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Young Entity since 2010
 Energy including nuclear
 Nuclear Academy
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THE PUBLIC SUPPORT NUCLEAR?
When will
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Was Josh Billings right:
“It’s not what we don’t know; its what
we know that just ain’t so that is our
greatest obstacle”
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Objective: challenge us to do more public
engagement to demystify nuclear power
Public broadly refers to non nuclear community:
General public; Organised Labour; Politicians; Lobbyists;
etc
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Reality about the strategic role of the public in the
South African Context

Public participation is not a nice to have!

Public participation is a legislative imperative in the
licensing process of a nuclear installation
o
Both in EIA & NNR Act

The ideal would be to raise sufficient public
understanding to make the licensing process easier

Its either we engage the public in our own terms or
we will have to engage them in regulatory terms!
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Lesson from PBMR
Success does not consist in never making blunders,
but in never making the same one a second time

If PBMR had already started construction, the
decision in 2010 would have been different

One contributor that prevented the start of
construction was a public challenge that went wrong
Construction license was subjected to EIA

EIA process started in 1999, eventually a positive
RoD was granted by DEAT in June 2003

In 2004 the RoD was challenged by a lobbyist group
& in January 2005 the high court overturned it
o
Understanding the public dynamics wrt the
legislative process would have assisted greatly!
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Two observations that drives the call to more
public engagement
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1st observation is a disconnect in perspective:
Perspective from nuclear industry: We have
glowing statistics of the performance of
nuclear power plants
Perspective from certain sectors of the public:
the glowing statistics are not fully appreciation
This disconnect demands more public
education, to make the good story understood!
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Some of the glowing statistics we know about nuclear
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Clean, Reliable, Affordable
Safety record unmatched by other modern major
technologies, Over 50 years great safety record
1960-2000 only 1 accident where 5 people or more
were casualties (coal-1119,oil-397, etc) (Andrew
Kenny)
Only about 60 casualties in entire industry globally in
over 50 years of operation
Over 80% of radiation exposure comes from natural
sources not nuclear power plants
Low carbon emitter compare to other sources of
energy
More radiation exposure in medicine than power plants
but people still want medical procedures
Low operational (marginal) cost
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2nd Observation: reality of technology
Reality of technology: Every technology has both a
smiley & ugly face; so is every source of energy
Public response: how clear does the public see the
smiley face of nuclear compared to the ugly face
How do we get a paradigm shift of the public from the
1st impression of the atomic energy, to the positive
impact of the energy.

The public still has fear that we know is technically not founded
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Hence we should ask a different set of questions; to
create a different public engagement approach!

Is it about nuclear or about us (PT)?

Do we appreciate the significant role of the public for
the nuclear roll out provided by legislation?

Which sector of public holds the greatest influence?

Have we been effective in convincing our leaders
(PT)?

Does the public trust us that we want nuclear for
public good or our profitability?

Have we been convincing to decision makers that it
is safe to move on, can they trust us to roll it out?

What are the key dynamics that we need to
understand as we aggressively engage the public?
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My thesis for public support for any
technology!
When the benefits are understood, people do
take risks!
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2 key dynamics in bringing about public
understanding


Every sector of the public is driven by its
own self interest
Strategic role of the various media tools, as
the source of public consumption
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Self-interest based on need & perspective
Very much like the story of blind people
describing an elephant (spear, wall, rope, snake,
etc)

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Examples of how the self interests plays out
1.
The unionized public wants to secure jobs, they will
bargain about anything & in anyway
2.
The lobbyists will spend every cent to make enough
noise to either delay or sabotage the program to
please their funders
3.
The politician is concerned about winning the next
election more that a particular program
4.
The general public wants service delivery at any
cost
5.
The industry wants to grow their bottom line from
any project they can find
They exert their influence @ different stages of the
process
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Public engagement is more than just brochures, but
extensive strategies to give something to each
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The strategic role of media
Consider an example to us as nuclear industry
from the aviation community!
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The role of media matters in shaping
public opinion!
Both accidents happened in 2013; which one did you
hear about?
St Franscisco
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Namibia, Mozambique airline
Asian airline
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The role of media matters in shaping
public opinion!
In both accidents people died, which one was reported
to us as a major accident?
370 aboard, 3 died
33 aboard all died
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Reality is that people tend to believe based on
the information they get!
What they believe is influenced by many things
including but not limited to:

What gets told to them

Who tells the news

How the news gets told

Sometimes regardless of what the facts are!
The public will support nuclear
when there is sufficient demystification of nuclear to
make the benefit understood
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When benefits are clarified & made attractive,
people are more than willing to take the risk
Is Nuclear Unclear!...
NO…but the Nuclear Industry has to do more …to
make it clear…!
The challenge to all of us is:
Customisation…to
respond to diverse self
interest…in
a
language
they
understand…demonstrating the benefit to each
People
would rather remain with a problem than
taking a solution they don’t understand or fear!
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Thank You
www.mzesi.com
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