Compared with the challenges of capital, technology and management, the main obstacle to the development of nuclear power in China is public acceptance. The public’s trust in nuclear-related organizations, enterprises, and grassroots governments is the confluence of all kinds of issues related to public acceptance of nuclear power. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the anti-nuclear incident in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province (2013–2023), this article examines the social distrust in nuclear power risk communication and its causes in the Jiangmen incident, using more than 5000 e-mails and more than 1000 phone calls expressing opposing views collected in the course of the Jiangmen incident, and comparing the data from media reports, in-depth interviews with key figures, and so on. The authors find that in the risk communication of the Jiangmen incident, insufficient supply of facts, the proliferation of alternative facts, and the third-party endorsement effect of the weak relationship chain at the factual level, the negative perception of the competence and goodwill of the risk communication organization at the organizational level, and the conflict of values and the deposition of credit deficit at the level of the socio-cultural and institutional environments, are the main factors leading to the social distrust. On this basis, the authors analyze the three sources of public trust in the nuclear field, namely, trust based on rationality, emotion, and culture of trust, and accordingly describe three paths to rebuild social trust in the nuclear field. The author advocates the improvement of information disclosure and the prevention of over-commitment, with a view to building a long-term mechanism for nuclear-related trust.