Building societal resilience against false information on emerging nuclear technologies
The proliferation of false information is one of today’s most pressing societal challenges, threatening the democratic ideal of informed decision-making. In the digital era, where AI-generated and synthetic media accelerate information flows, false narratives often spread faster than verified facts, undermining public confidence in science and technology. Within the nuclear sector, such misinformation and disinformation can distort public understanding, erode trust, and influence attitudes toward emerging technologies such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).
Despite extensive global efforts to counter false information, resilience-building in nuclear communication remains under-researched. This PhD project addresses this gap by investigating how false or misleading narratives about new nuclear technologies shape public perception, trust, and decision-making, and how institutions can enhance resilience through evidence-based communication strategies.
The study integrates insights from communication science, social psychology, and nuclear research to develop and test innovative approaches for countering false information. Using a mixed-methods, multi-level design, it will combine digital analytics, experiments, surveys, interviews, and discourse analysis to assess the effectiveness of key interventions such as content moderation, debunking, and prebunking.
The project is embedded within Factcheck.vlaanderen and the Media, Information & Persuasion Lab at KU Leuven, utilizing AI-supported tools for digital data collection and experimental design. At SCK CEN, it is guided by the Science and Technology Studies (STS) group—recognised as a leading European expertise in nuclear risk communication—and supported by the Communication (COM) unit.
The results will provide evidence-based frameworks and tools to strengthen institutional credibility, improve societal robustness against false information, and enhance preparedness for nuclear innovation. Findings will directly inform SCK CEN’s communication strategy and contribute to the European Industrial Alliance for SMRs and IAEA communication frameworks.