ABSTRACT

In November 1979 Dr Michael Thompson presented a paper to an American pro-nuclear group SE2 (Scientists and Engineers for Secure Energy) at a meeting concerned mainly with the safe disposal of nuclear waste and with the Three Mile Island accident. Thompson, as a freelance social anthropologist, is not committed to either the pro- or the anti-nuclear camp and points out that his advice has in fact not been heeded by SE2. He considers that the problem of America's indecision over peaceful nuclear energy must be addressed wholly in social and political, rather than technical, terms and that it is basically due to different perceptions of risks and their acceptability. More recently, he has studied the anti-smoking movement in both Britain and the USA.