Irina Tsurina, Head of Analytical Department of «PRopaganda» Center of Communication Technologies

– NPP is stable jobs and big investments

The positive attitude towards nuclear energy in a country that has suffered from Chernobyl disaster proves that our people trust nuclear researchers and nuclear power engineers. We have always been proud of our nuclear industry and its scientific and technical achievements. And even a calamity like Chernobyl failed to change this attitude. In fact, many other things we were proud of have faded while nuclear industry has been showing stable growth and even international expansion in the last years. Together with rockets, it remains the symbol of technical progress in our country.

The results of this survey are quite favorable for nuclear power engineers especially considering the fact that the poll was held on the eve of the Chernobyl accident. It is noteworthy that the people living in the regions having nuclear power plants have shown even more benevolence. This means that they are confident of NPPs’ ecological safety and social and economic advantages.

The latter factor is especially important now that we are experiencing industrial decline. Today an NPP implies stable jobs and big investments.

On the eve of the 23rd anniversary of the accident at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, from Apr 10 till 22 2009 Levada-Center held a poll concerning the attitude of the Russians towards nuclear energy. 1,602 people over 18 took part in the survey. 35% of the Russians advocate the preservation of nuclear energy, almost as many support its active development. The results of this poll are not very much different from those of the survey held in 2006. This proves that the Russians show stably positive attitude towards nuclear energy. Only 5% of the respondents have said that Russia must give up nuclear energy, 12% advocate a gradual phase-out (against 15% in 2006). 42.5% of the Russians believe that nuclear energy will be able to replace oil and gas when they come to an end (15% opt for water resources, 9% for coal, 5.1% for other sources of energy). People living in the regions hosting nuclear power plants show more positive attitude towards nuclear energy: 75% in the Central Federal District and 71% in the North-Western Federal District. In Moscow 45% advocate status quo, while 30% say that nuclear energy must be developed.