Nikolay Znamensky, Director for Scientific Development of Kurchatov Institute

– Nuclear energy gives us power to live

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.

I also think that nuclear energy must be developed. Yes, 23 years ago we had a tragedy but we must not give up because of it. Tragedies happen in other spheres too. But life goes on. We must not forget that nuclear energy gives us power to live. Without it our life would be much worse. Coal and water cannot fully replace nuclear energy. Coal is a very dirty fuel with very low efficiency rate. Nuclear energy is much safer. Water can help only on big rivers or in mountains but not always where we need. Much has been done to make nuclear energy safer in the past 23 years. Yes, we cannot still be 100% sure that it is safe just like we cannot be absolutely sure that we will not get into an accident when driving a car. But we don’t stop driving, do we?