1 May 2012  The perception gap: Radiation and risk  Paul Slovic
Paul Slovic is a professor in the psychology department at the
University of Oregon and founder and president of Decision
Research—a nonprofit research organization investigating...
People perceive different types of radiation risks in very
different ways. Surveys of the general public in the United
States and elsewhere have consistently shown that people
perceive nuclear power and nuclear waste as having high risk,
but perceive other sources of radioactivity—such as medical
x-rays and naturally occurring radon gas—as posing much lower
risk. The majority of radiation experts see things quite
differently, rating nuclear power and nuclear waste as less
risky than the general public does, and perceiving medical
x-rays and radon as more risky than generally believed. This
perception gap demonstrates that acceptance of risk is
conditioned by a number of factors, such as trust in the
managers of the technology and appreciation for the direct
personal