Survey finds that opposition to nuclear power has grown

Conducted by GlobeScan for the BBC, the survey shows that many people believe renewable and not nuclear energy can meet future needs.

According to a statement, most of those polled in countries with operational nuclear plants are opposed to building new reactors.

Thirty-nine per cent said their country should ’use the nuclear power stations we already have, but not build new ones’, while 30 per cent gave affirmative responses to the statement that said ’nuclear power is dangerous and we should close down all operating nuclear plants as soon as possible’. 

The poll, carried out between June and September this year, following the Fukushima crisis in Japan, also indicated that the UK and US are going against this trend and becoming less opposed to nuclear power than others.

The survey was fielded in 12 of the 31 countries that currently operate nuclear power plants. In these countries, opinion is divided as to how extensively nuclear power should be used. Twenty-two per cent agreed that ’nuclear power is relatively safe and an important source of electricity, and we should build more nuclear power plants’.