Analysis of the relationship between risk perception and willingness to pay for nuclear power plant risk reduction

Abstract

With the adoption of new technologies, more risk is introduced into modern society. Important decisions about new technologies tend to be made by specialists, which can lead to a mismatch of risk perception between citizens and specialists, resulting in high social cost. Using contingent valuation methods, this paper analyzes the relationship between willingness to pay (WTP) and the factors expressed through people's image of nuclear power plants (NPP), their perception of NPP safety, and how these can be affected by their scientific background level. Results indicate that groups with a high scientific background level tend to have low risk perception level, represented through their image and safety levels. Further, the results show that mean WTP is dependent on scientific background and image levels. It is believed that these results could help decision makers address the mismatch of trust between the public and specialists in terms of new policy.