Case Study 1: The Nuclear Waste Battle
Case Study 2: Working with the Nuclear Industry Since 1982  

Case Study 1: The Nuclear Waste Battle

THE PROBLEM

S&H has served as the Nuclear Energy Institute's (NEI) advertising agency of record since 1996. NEI's legislative agenda includes a broad range of federal and state issues, but one legislative goal has consistently ranked highest: securing federal approval of a permanent high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

THE CONTEXT

Since the advent of the U.S. commercial nuclear power industry, nuclear power plants have stored spent (or used) nuclear fuel rods on site. This was never considered a permanent arrangement, but rather an interim step before the federal government fulfilled its statutory obligation to take possession of the spent fuel for permanent disposal.

The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act set in motion a process which ultimately identified Yucca Mountain, in the remote Nevada desert, as best-suited for a permanent high-level nuclear waste repository. The Act also spelled out the legislative steps required to move forward with Yucca Mountain, namely securing majorities in both Houses of Congress and presidential approval.

THE SOLUTION

click to enlarge (pdf files)

As moving spent fuel from 103 reactor sites constituted a top priority for NEI's membership, the trade association launched an aggressive effort utilizing lobbying, public relations, grassroots and advertising resources.

Working closely with NEI communications staff S&H crafted print, radio and television advertising both inside the Washington Beltway and in targeted states and Congressional districts designed to make the political/policy case for moving forward with Yucca Mountain. Concurrent with this issue-specific campaign, we helped NEI launch an innovative "nuclear benefits" campaign touting the many benefits of efficient, environmentally clean nuclear power - telling a positive story against which NEI could execute this and future government relations initiatives.
 

THE RESULTS

Although the Yucca site consistently garnered support from majorities in both the House and Senate, it faced a sure presidential veto during the Clinton Administration. With this in mind, the NEI effort focused on making the case for Yucca Mountain and the broader policy of moving waste from 39 states, all played against the positive backdrop created by the "benefits" campaign. A more sympathetic Bush Administration removed the veto threat, making the issue ripe for resolution.

The pro-Yucca campaign hardly took place in a vacuum. Opponents of the repository - primarily the State of Nevada, its elected representatives in Washington, gaming interests and environmental activists - waged an aggressive campaign against it. Because the geography of the issue was decidedly against them - sending waste from 39 states to Nevada has obvious appeal - opponents focused on the perceived risks of transporting waste through hundreds of communities on its way to Yucca Mountain.

In the end, NEI's pro-Yucca effort prevailed even over intense opposition in the Senate led by Nevada's Harry Reid, the second-ranking majority member in the Senate.

Case Study 2: Working with the Nuclear Industry Since 1982

Historically, negative media stories generated by anti-nuclear organizations have fanned public fears about the safety of nuclear energy. More recently, critics have focused on the transport and storage of nuclear waste and threatened the industry’s survival.

In the mid-70s, anti-nuclear activists were successful in generating negative publicity about nuclear energy. This critical media attention aggravated dire conditions brought about by escalating construction costs, burdensome regulations, and over-capacity in electricity generation, which halted the construction of any new nuclear facilities and threatened existing sites.

In recent years, critics focused specifically on the transport and storage of nuclear waste, charging this would greatly increase the likelihood of nuclear waste spills and releases of radiation. Their activities have been geared to blocking industry efforts to pass legislation that would force the Department of Energy to fulfill its commitment to take nuclear waste by 1998.

Smith & Harroff knew that the nuclear industry had facts on its side, but lacked the means to bring those facts before a wider public. Putting these facts credibly before the news media was a paramount objective for the industry.

To win positive media coverage and dispel the arguments of anti-nuclear activists, Smith & Harroff devised the industry’s first national speakers bureau. These "truth squads" of scientists and engineers were trained by Smith & Harroff to work with the media, then dispatched all over the country. In hundreds of media interviews, our experts challenged nuclear opponents to debate and presented the facts behind nuclear energy, radiation and waste disposal. Our messages were provocative and factual, designed to appeal to the general public and the news media.

Our first nuclear industry speakers bureau was the Westinghouse Campus America program.  In 1982, that program, became an industry-wide effort known as the Nuclear Energy Institute's Energy America Program.

Smith & Harroff has also created advertising for key media markets and congressional districts to focus attention on the environmental benefits of nuclear energy and remind the public and Congress of the Federal government’s responsibility to build a centralized waste storage facility.  In 1998, Smith & Harroff created a new advertising campaign for the Nuclear Energy Institute on the benefits of nuclear technology, involving nuclear power.

THE RESULTS

By unmasking the arguments of the anti-nuclear critics as rhetorical and unfounded, the national speakers bureaus helped to secure more positive and balanced media coverage of the nuclear industry – and changed the terms of debate.

The speakers bureau has since become a reliable and frequently used means of countering misinformation and winning favorable media attention.

Advocacy advertising has effectively supported the industry’s efforts in Congress, and won over a majority of Representatives and Senators to our side of the waste disposal issue.