Risk cognition and the public: The case of Three Mile Island

Residents of within 50 miles of the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island (TMI), Pennsylvania, were surveyed in 1979, 1980, and 1982 to assess their general attitudes toward nuclear power, to assess their individual coping responses to the March 1979 accident, and to monitor changes in attitudes over the three-year period. Most respondents feel that future accidents like TMI will occur once or twice more in their lifetimes, that operating nuclear power stations should have improved safeguards and should continue operating, and that major institutions—government and utility companies—are experiencing a continued erosion of public trust.