Familiarity and Fear: Dual Logic of Public Trust in Risk Managers Based on Nuclear Power Plant Projects' Analysis

In the process of risk communication of nuclear power plant projects, public distrust in risk managers is an important reason for the communication failure. This paper reviews the "dis-embedding" mechanism theory by Luhmann and Giddens, and constructs an explanatory framework for trust-building. Through the survey of residents around nuclear power plants in China, it is found that public' s nuclear power contact, interaction and participation, personal interest identity, and social benefit identity have a positive impact on the trust in risk managers, while the positive impact of nuclear power knowledge is not robust. The public's nuclear power knowledge and nuclear power contact have a negative impact on risk perception, while the negative impact of social benefit identification is not robust. The results show that there are two ways of trust-building: trust generated by familiarity and trust caused by fear, which verifies the dual logic of trust-building. Based on the research conclusions, this paper proposes that the trust in nuclear power risk managers can be rebuilt in three ways: keeping information open and transparent, instant response, and enhancing the benefits of residents nearby.