I've been thinking a great deal about nuclear energy lately in preparation for last week's Energy at the Movies event at UT. We included clips from 1979's The China Syndrome followed by real news reports immediately following the Three Mile Island accident--which took place just 12 days after the film premiered. Some energy experts believe that movie contributed to halting nuclear development in the U.S. Thirty-two years have passed, so I became interested in whether attitudes on nuclear energy may have changed. A few days before the earthquake, I conducted this poll via facebook and twitter:
Within hours, I had 71 response: 63 yes, 2 no, and 6 undecided. How do you think the same question would fare now? It's too soon to speculate how U.S. energy policy will be influenced by the weekend's tragic events in Japan, but regardless of advances in technology and safety measures, public sentiment will likely play a tremendous role in what happens next.
