Public deliberation on nuclear power plant construction: The impact of values, processes, and personal attributes

Abstract

Public deliberation is a way of integrating the collective decision-making of the public into policy-making processes through the use of a representative sample in a series of debates and discussions of controversial issues, including on nuclear power plant construction. This study examines the driving factors behind participants' decisions, examining their value priorities regarding energy, deliberation processes for decision-making, and their personal attributes. Why did citizens who participated in public deliberation on nuclear power plants decide to resume its construction? In particular, this research investigates how those who were undecided in the first survey decided on the resumption of the nuclear power plant construction in the final (fourth) survey. To answer the research question, statistical analysis suggested that those with a conservative political ideology and those who emphasize a stable energy supply and nuclear power plants’ industrial impacts were likely to support the construction resumption. In contrast, those who had concerns regarding the environmental impacts and who watched televised debates were likely to support the suspension of the construction. This study makes a contribution to the literature on sustainable energy governance and individual behavior by providing (1) theoretical links between a value priority on energy, sources of information in the deliberation process, personal attributes, and individual decision-making, and (2) empirical evidence of the undecided coming to a decision on nuclear energy policies.