Communicating Effectively On Yucca Mountain Issues

1
Communicating Effectively On Yucca Mountain Issues

• Melanie Lyons
• Nuclear Energy Institute
• May 1, 2002

2
Alexis de Tocqueville nothing but a newspaper
can drop the same thought into a thousand minds
at the same moment
3
Identify Your Key Messages

• 20 years of in-depth scientific investigation has
  examined every environmental and scientific facet
  of Yucca Mountain.
• Its time for leadership, gridlock has severe
  consequences.
• Customers have already paid 18 billion into the
  Nuclear Waste Fund.

4
Identify Your Key Messages (cont.)

• Were a model for managing by-products.
• More than 45 years of experience and 3,000
  successful shipments of used nuclear fuel in the
  U.S. demonstrate that this material can be safely
  transported to Yucca Mountain by rail and truck.
• Used nuclear fuel storage is safe at our plants
  in the short term, but nuclear plants were not
  designed for long-term disposal.

5
NEI Media Activities

• NEI carrying out an earned media strategy to
  raise the issue in media outlets from key
  Senators home states.
• Media Tours Completed and Planned
• Florida Oregon
• New Jersey Missouri
• Michigan Illinois
• Ohio Wisconsin
• Iowa Nebraska
• Washington

6
NEI Media Activities

• Editorial outreach61 ratio of positive
  editorialsfocus on key states for Senate vote
• Third-Party Op-Ed ProgramUsing industry
  signatories and third party expertsfocus on key
  states for Senate vote
• Letters to the EditorRapid response to
  misinformation and support to third-party views
  aligned with industry

7
Editorial Support

• New York Times
• The Wall Street Journal
• Washington Times
• Chicago Tribune
• Chicago Sun Times
• Christian Science Monitor
• Lincoln Journal Star
• Cleveland Plain Dealer

• Ogden Standard Examiner
• The Tennesseean
• Minneapolis Star Tribune
• Florida Today
• Florida Times-Union
• Albuquerque Journal
• Cincinnati Post
• Charleston Post and Courier

8
NEI Advertising Activities

• Yucca Mountain advocacy advertising will be
  placed inside the beltway throughout the process.
  The Washington Post The Washington
  Times Roll Call National Journal Congressional
  Quarterly CongressDaily AM Congressional
  Monitor

9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
Toolkit for Working with The Media

• Learn the issues

12
Yucca Mountain Resource BookAvailable at
www.nei.org
13
Toolkit for Working with The Media

• Learn the issues
• Set-up editorial page meetings
• Write opinion editorials
• Write letters to the editor
• Invite media to tour your plants
• Follow up

14
Action Needed

• Need to communicate value of nuclear energy
• Localize, personalize and humanize the need for a
  positive vote on Yucca Mountain

The vote is crucial to Americas national
security, energy security and environmental
preservation.