Abstract
The purpose of this research is to clarify people's cognitive structure of nuclear energy, and to analyze how the cognitive structure varies with inhabiting areas, genders, and knowledge of nuclear energy. For this purpose, we carried out questionnaire survey of perception of nuclear energy in the urban areas and nuclear power plants (NPP) siting areas. After collecting data, we defined 8 categories in terms of respondents' inhabiting areas, genders, and knowledge, and applied factor analysis to each category's data. Consequently, we found 4 cognitive factors of nuclear: "trust in the authorities", "utility of nuclear power generation", "benefit for NPP siting areas", and "risk perception about nuclear technology", regardless of the respondents' inhabiting areas, genders, and knowledge. In addition, when the respondents assess many perceptions of nuclear energy, respondents living in urban areas tend to regard "trust in the authorities" as important, while respondents living in NPP siting areas tend to take into consideration of "risk perception about nuclear technology".
