34391. Communicating Nuclear Risk: Informing the Public about the Risks and Realities of Nuclear Terrorism
- Author:
- Tonya L. Putnam
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for International Security and Cooperation
- Abstract:
- Achieving adequate preparedness for a terrorist attack against the United States involving a nuclear or radiological weapon is simultaneously a technical problem, a public-policy challenge, and a public-education mission. Response to terrorist attacks differs in important ways from response to more familiar nuclear emergencies arising from reactor accidents, and also from response to conventional and chemical and biological terrorist attacks. The complications of risk communication in the realm of nuclear terrorism include overcoming misinformation about the nature of the threats posed by terrorist attacks involving nuclear and radiological weapons as well as mistrust of experts, the government, and the media.
- Topic:
- Security, International Cooperation, Nuclear Weapons, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States