Poland stands out as having the highest levels of support for advanced nuclear energy, report reveals
WARSAW, Poland, May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new, multinational report released today found that there is widespread public support for using advanced nuclear energy technologies to generate electricity. Based on a survey of more than 13,000 respondents across eight countries - Poland, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Japan, and South Korea - the study showed strong support for advanced nuclear energy in each country, with Poland having the highest level of support, boasting a 10:1 ratio of supporters to opponents.
Surveyed Poles said that advanced nuclear can play a significant role in boosting the country's economy and ensuring energy security, with 85% believing it is needed for economic growth. Almost 80% agree that advanced nuclear can help solve today's energy crisis, and 76% say it can help reduce energy dependence on third countries.
Furthermore, more than 75% of people in Poland believe that nuclear energy is necessary to meet climate goals, the highest level of agreement amongst the countries surveyed. The study also found that, in contrast to countries where opposition is centered on older citizens, support for advanced nuclear energy in Poland is consistently strong across all age groups.
Today's report was produced through a collaboration between the nongovernmental organizations ClearPath, Third Way, Potential Energy Coalition, and RePlanet.
Mark Lynas, co-founder of RePlanet, said:
"It is often thought that nuclear power is unpopular. Our results show conclusively that this is not the case, and that nuclear as a source of clean, carbon-free energy commands majority support in every single country. This majority support even extends in most cases to members of environmental groups and Green parties, and shows that policy-makers and investors should not fear public opinion when making urgently-needed decisions about supporting new advanced nuclear deployment."
Josh Freed, Senior Vice President for the Climate and Energy Program at Third Way, said:
"Real world concerns about energy security and climate change have a way of focusing people's minds. That is why growing numbers of people in the US and across the world are turning to advanced nuclear as one of the sources of clean, reliable, and secure energy they support. It is encouraging that policymakers, including most of the countries surveyed, are responding with ambitious policies that embrace advanced nuclear as part of their energy strategies."
John Marshall, CEO of Potential Energy Coalition, which led the design and analytics behind the study, said: "Our approach is to use the most sophisticated tools from private sector consumer research and marketing to explore what people value, their concerns, their priorities, and how they see 'brand nuclear.' We follow the data, and what this data tells here is a new story. We've known for years that public opinion on nuclear energy has been changing, but we haven't understood what's behind that shift or what it means for the clean energy transition. In particular, the degree of support from environmentalists is noteworthy and perhaps contrary to general perception."
Rich Powell, CEO of ClearPath, said:
"A robust American energy policy should make energy reliable, secure and clean. Nuclear energy checks each of these boxes and with public support continuing to improve, we are well on our way to an exciting energy future that will enhance our quality of life in the U.S. and abroad."
View and download the full report here.
Other recent surveys have also confirmed a shift in public support in favor of nuclear energy - including a Gallup poll last month that found Americans' support was at the highest level in a decade - but this new report is the first large-scale study to apply a private sector market research methodology to understand attitudes towards nuclear energy across eight countries.
One new finding revealed by the study was that almost all of the opposition to advanced nuclear energy comes from a small, distinct segment of the population - only 15 percent - whose members are older, skeptical about innovation, and unmovable in their views. All of the other groups identified by the report overwhelmingly support advanced nuclear energy, even if they vary widely in their political outlook, economic position, and views on issues like climate change.
Support for advanced nuclear energy is not partisan, the report found. In all but two countries in the report, Germany and Japan, a majority of the supporters of every major political party also back using advanced nuclear energy.
The study found that 52 percent of self-described supporters or members of environmental groups in Poland strongly agree with using advanced nuclear energy, with only 4% strongly disagreeing. In Germany, which recently closed its last nuclear power plants, more than half of respondents said they support the use of advanced nuclear energy, and supporters outnumbered opponents by a factor of two to one. German supporters cited energy independence as the strongest argument in favor of using nuclear technology.
Read the full results, including detailed breakdowns of the country-specific findings, and download a copy of the report here.
Contact:
Sayoko Oyama
soyama@kreab.com
+44 20 7074 1830
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