ABSTRACT
Citizen involvement in issues surrounding nuclear technology has brought new actors into the policy-making process. On December 14, 1967, Consumers Power of Michigan announced its intention to begin construction on a new nuclear generating plant in the small town of Midland, located approximately 200 miles northwest of Detroit. The controversy that led to the demise of the Midland plant is a textbook example of the problems besetting the nuclear industry. In the Midland case, the announcement of a site for nuclear plant construction began a series of events that eventually caused the project to be canceled because of public opposition. The advent of nuclear power has raised to public consciousness two questions of justice, both of which are philosophical but which are nevertheless apparent to all people affected by siting disputes. Certainly in places like Midland advocacy politics has damaged the nuclear industry and therefore threatened long-term energy policy.
