The biggest and most unique public dialogue to be ever conducted in Poland on an important public issue changed the minds of Poles on nuclear energy in less than 9 months and helped the country tap into new energy power sources.

In 2011 Poland desperately needed those to keep up with its fast development so the government prepared a nuclear power development plan but people’s minds were biased by Hiroshima as well as the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents and lack of knowledge.

45 % of Poles were afraid of nuclear power and 63% of them didn't want a nuclear power plant in their neighborhood while 59% declared that they knew very little about it.

It was crucial for the government to educate Poles and provide them with facts in order to eliminate negative stereotypes.

The “Explore the atom. Let's talk about Poland with energy” educational campaign was not propaganda or populism but an honest dialogue beyond differences.

On-line tools like Facebook, the web portal, expert blog, live stream experts debates, and infomercial allowed talking with people virtually for 24/7. The public consultations and educational events for local communities in the potential sites allowed them to voice their concerns while widely carried out nationwide media relations which produced over 9000 publications helped reach out to the media and the public.

As a result, the goal of increasing public acceptance by 5% initially planned for the almost 3 year-long campaign was achieved in less than 9 months!

The campaign was conducted nationwide and locally. To start with, an in-depth public opinion poll was conducted and the findings of the research served as a background to prepare a PR strategy.

The website, Facebook fan page were created and a press office was set up. This was followed by the official launch of the campaign which took place in Warsaw in form of a big inaugural conference where the Government Plenipotentiary for Nuclear Energy and the representatives of the most prestigious Polish nuclear energy institutes signed a declaration of cooperation. The conference was reported all over the Polish media.

Then the dialogue with the public, beyond any differences, started across various communication channels and included activities like public consultations, expert debates, on-line dialogue, educational events and the daily functioning of the press office.

The campaign created a huge stir in the society. The most important achievement was that Poles willingly started an active dialog with the Polish government about the future of their country.

Tangible results included:

• 56 % of Poles said yes! to nuclear energy

• A decrease by 6% of Poles against a nuclear power plant in their neighborhood (from 63% to 57%)

• 9 000 publications in the media

• 60 000 people watched expert debates on-line

• 130 000 tourists in the potential sites received brochures on nuclear energy

• The Facebook page was liked ten times more than the next Polish fan page on nuclear energy

• Supporters and opponents, among them Greenpeace, led a 56dialogue

• 18 most prominent Polish research and scientific institutes that have never worked together before created a coalition of experts