TODAY’S STUDY: U.S. POLL SHOWS LITTLE SUPPORT FOR NUCLEAR

One Year After Fukushima; American Attitudes About Nuclear Power
March 2012 (ORC International)

Executive Summary

With the one year anniversary of the Japanese reactor disaster nearing on March 11, 2012, a new ORC International survey of 1,032 Americans conducted February 23-26, 2012 for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute shows that the events in Fukushima continue to have a major impact on U.S. views about further expanding the use of nuclear power in this nation. The 2012 findings are benchmarked to a March 2011 conducted by ORC International for CSI:

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• Nearly six in 10 Americans (57 percent) are less supportive of expanding nuclear power in the United States than they were before the Japanese reactor crisis, a nearly identical finding to the 58 percent who responded the same way when asked the same question one year ago. Those who say they are more supportive of nuclear power a year after Fukushima account for well under a third (28 percent) of all Americans, little changed from the 24 percent who shared that view in 2011.

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• More than three out of four Americans (77 percent) say they are now more supportive than they were a year ago “to using clean renewable energy resources – such as wind and solar – and increased energy efficiency as an alternative to more nuclear power in the United States.” In fact, about half (49 percent) of ALL Americans now say they are now “much more supportive” of relying on more clean energy and energy efficiency than they were a year ago. Both of these findings edged up from the 2011 survey levels of 76 percent and 46 percent, respectively.

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• More than three out of four Americans (77 percent) would support “a shift of federal loan-guarantee support for energy away from nuclear reactors” in favor of wind and solar power. This level of support was up from the 74 percent finding in the 2011 survey.

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• 72 percent of Americans do not “think taxpayers should take on the risk for the construction of new nuclear power reactors in the United States through billions of dollars in new federal loan guarantees for new reactors.” This level of opposition was nearly identical to the 73 percent opposition level reported in the March 2011 survey.

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•In response to a new question in the 2012 survey, more than six in 10 Americans (61 percent) said they were less supportive of nuclear power as a result of “reports in the U.S. during 2011 and so far in 2012 of nuclear reactors that had to be shut down due to hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, leaks or other emissions of radioactive materials, and/or equipment failure.” Fewer than three in 10 Americans (29 percent) say that such reports have made them more supportive of nuclear power.

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• Nearly four out of five Americans (78 percent) would favor Congress reviewing a 1957 law indemnifying nuclear power companies from most disaster clean-up costs. Instead, Americans would hold the companies “liable for all damages resulting from a nuclear meltdown or other accident.” This figure is up 5 percentage points from the 73 percent support level seen in 2011.

• About two thirds (65 percent) of Americans now say they would oppose “the construction of a new nuclear reactor within 50 miles of [their] home.” This figure was roughly the same as the 67 percent opposition level in the March 2011 survey.

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• Over half (52 percent) of Americans living within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor do NOT know “what to do in the event of nuclear reactor emergency,” such as “the evacuation route and what other steps to take.” (That figure is unchanged from the 2011 survey findings.) The 2012 poll indicates that nearly one in five (18 percent) of Americans say they live within 50 miles of a nuclear power reactor.

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• Fewer than half of Americans (46 percent) now support more nuclear reactors in the U.S. This level of support is unchanged from the period immediately after Fukushima. By contrast, opponents of more nuclear reactors in the U.S. rose 5 percentage points in the last year to 49 percent (up from 44 percent in 2011). The number of “fence sitters” on the question of nuclear power fell from 10 percent to 5 percent, with the shift among the undecided coming down against more nuclear power.

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• Over half of Americans (51 percent) would now support “a moratorium on new nuclear reactor construction in the United States,” if “increased energy efficiency and off the shelf renewable technologies such as wind and solar could meet our energy demands for the near term.” This support level was little changed from the 53 percent level seen in the March 2011 survey.