Yelena Melikhova, head of laboratory for Study of Social-Psychological Consequences of Radiation Accidents of Nuclear Safety Institute

– Social acceptability of nuclear energy is growing

51% of the Russians say that domestic waste and dumps pose the biggest threat to the environment, say the results of a survey of the Russia Public Opinion Research Center. Wood cutting and transport are the second biggest threats (37% each). The industry is in the third place with 35%, transportation and burial of radioactive waste are the fourth (38%). Only 19% of the Russians regard nuclear power plants as the key threat to nature. 10% say that the most ecologically hazardous activity is the production of oil, gas and other mineral resources. Since 2006 the percentage of domestic waste has grown from 31% to 51%, wood cutting and transport from 30% and 28%, respectively, to 37% each. On the contrary, the percentage of the industry has dropped from 41% to 35%, transportation and burial of radioactive waste from 36% to 28%. Today, NPPs do not seem as dangerous as they did just a couple of years ago – 19% against 31% in 2006.

The social acceptability of nuclear energy in Russia is growing (just remember the recent poll of Levada Center: 35% of the Russians said that nuclear energy must be developed, 35% — that it must be preserved at its present level). One of the key reasons is that NPPs give not only energy but also budgetary revenues and stable work, which is very important at the time of crisis. Besides, for almost a quarter of century after Chernobyl all the world’s nuclear power plants have operated safely. People see that. They also see the huge dumps of domestic waste in their cities and suffer from the gas emitted by traffic jams. So, people are gradually beginning to take ecological risk factors as they should.

Note

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.