Research On Nuclear Public Risk Perception And Acceptance Model Based On Psychological Distance Theory

China is currently the fastest developing country in nuclear energy.However,while China insists on the development of nuclear energy as a policy choice,the public’s consciousness of environmental protection constantly reinforced,especially after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011.And the Not-In-My-Back-Yard(NIMBY)syndrome opposition events about the nuclear facilities landing projects had emerged which impeded the development of nuclear power.As a typical NIMBY facility Nuclear Power Plants’(NPPs)risks are taken by the local inhabitants but benefits are shared by the whole society,so the distance from nuclear facilities is an important factor affecting public nuclear risk perception and attitudes.In previous studies,researches on how distance influenced nuclear risk perception and public acceptance hadn’t reached consensus,and further exploration of the reason is of great significance to energy policy making.According to psychological distance theory and technology acceptance model,this paper explored the effects of psychological distance on nuclear risk perception and acceptance from the perspectives of four different psychological distance dimensions:spatial distance,social distance,temporal distance and hypotheticality and constructed a nuclear risk and acceptance model.An empirical study was conducted on and a total of 698 samples including site-specific samples(N=184)and national samples(N=515)were collected from the survey.After test the model hypotheses by the samples’ data analysis,we can provided several conclusions:(1)Spatial distance significantly positively influenced the risk perceptions.Social distance,temporal distance and hypotheticality significantly negatively influenced the risk perceptions.(2)Temporal distance and hypotheticality significantly positively influenced the benefit perceptions.(3)Temporal distance,social distance and hypotheticality significantly positively influenced the nuclear public acceptance through the risk perceptions.And temporal distance and hypotheticality significantly positively influenced the nuclear public acceptance through benefit perceptionsBased on the above conclusions,this paper enriched the theory basis on public risk perception and acceptance research of nuclear power,from the perspective of psychological distance,the paper provided corresponding policy suggestions on dealing with the NIMBY syndrome in nuclear power plants constructions’projects.