Abstract
It is well known that Not In My Back Yard and public acceptance issues have become important factors affecting the development of the nuclear industry. Public communication is considered to be an important tool to address these issues. Both government agencies and operating organizations have invested considerable resources in public communication efforts. However, whether these investments have achieved their intended purpose is a question to be evaluated. Previously, there have been peer review of public communication efforts, but the focus has been on how the operating organizations do their jobs. The evaluation envisioned in this paper focuses on whether communication is effective, such as whether the Not In My Back Yard has been mitigating and public acceptance has increasing. In general, the evaluation framework envisioned in this paper breaks down “effectiveness” into different dimensions,divides different assessment areas based on the components of public communication efforts, distinguishes between daily works and important point-in-time activities, and focuses on the effectiveness of communication tools and the acceptability of content.In terms of assessment methods, they can include questionnaires, interviews, media reports, cited data analysis, etc., with more emphasis on using data external to the operating organizations. When conditions permit, regular public acceptance surveys can be conducted on a relatively fixed sample population to observe long-term trends. The evaluation results can be used to guide the subsequent public communication efforts, adjust the focus of work in a timely manner, and allocate resources appropriately.
