NEI reports that large majorities of Americans support nuclear energy and believe it will be important for the future, a new national public opinion survey shows. Public support for nuclear energy is particularly strong in the Midwest and in the South, where five reactors are being built.
Sixty-eight per cent of those surveyed said they favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States. A similar survey conducted last year found 63 per cent favorable. In the Midwest, 76 per cent of respondents favor the use of nuclear energy, as do 71 per cent of respondents in the South.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents believe nuclear energy will be important in meeting the national electricity needs in the years ahead - 19 per cent feel it will not be important. Last year, 74 percent felt similarly.
On a wide range of measures, the new survey shows an upturn in support for nuclear energy over the past year. What really stands out to me, having surveyed public opinion in this area for more than 30 years, is the huge, positive turnaround in public attitudes on nuclear energy over the past quarter-century, Bisconti Research Inc. President Ann Bisconti said. The Bisconti firm conducted the survey with Quest Global Research for NEI from Feb. 18 to March 1. In 1983, when the Nuclear Energy Institute public tracking program began, only half the public favored nuclear energy. Now, more than two-thirds of Americans are favorable, she added.
The new survey also shows a notable increase over the past year in public perceptions of nuclear energy safety. Seventy-nine percent of respondents agree that nuclear power plants operating in the United States are safe and secure. In two surveys in 2014, that sentiment was expressed by 70 per cent of respondents.
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