Framing Nuclear: an analysis of lnline political discourse on Nuclear Energy in Belgium

This study analyzes how Belgian politicians and political parties discuss nuclear energy on X (formerly Twitter), focusing on framing patterns from January 2019 to August 2024. Using Coosto, 5,419 tweets from 79 prominent Flemish politicians and their parties were collected. While this abstract reports findings from Flemish politicians, we are currently extending our analysis to include Walloon data, which will be presented at the conference. We applied an annotation strategy involving two large language models and a dictionary-based method to annotate five energy policy frames previously identified in the literature: energy security, clean energy, economic growth, nuclear safety, and energy affordability. Our analysis reveals significant politicization of nuclear energy discourse.
Opposition parties, particularly N-VA and Vlaams Belang, dominate discussions, emphasizing energy security and clean energy frames. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 notably increased the salience of energy security, making it the dominant frame. Conversely, affordability declined in prominence. Furthermore, our research identifies distinct framing patterns concerning small modular reactors (SMRs). While general nuclear discussions prioritize clean energy and energy security, discourse on SMRs prominently features economic growth and nuclear safety, with centrist parties like CD&V and Open VLD actively shaping this debate. These findings highlight how geopolitical events and party ideologies shape public discourse on nuclear energy, underlining the need for
nuanced stakeholder engagement strategies. This research provides critical insights into the interplay between politics and energy policy framing, informing effective communication on nuclear energy.