ABSTRACT
However, the 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima, the current downward trend in oil prices, and the debate on energy transition and nuclear ‘phase-out’ have again prompted a more cautious linguistic approach to nuclear power on the part of the European institutions, probably as a way to pre-empt criticism by public opinion. Whereas a 2006 Eurobarometer recorded an overall favourable assessment of nuclear power as helping to reduce Europe’s energy dependence (69 per cent of interviewees) and global warming (49 per cent),5 today’s attitudes may have changed as a result of recent events.6 Whatever the case may be, it is evident that the present Energy Strategy is also the outcome
of one of the recurrent ‘linguistic adjustments’ characterizing the history of European energy policies.7
