NEI Nuclear Notes

Ann Bisconti The following is a guest post by Ann S. Bisconti, PhD, President, Bisconti Research, Inc. As we await the results of the ongoing NEI Spring 2016 Public Opinion Survey on Nuclear Energy, two other surveys have raised the question: Where is public opinion about nuclear energy headed? Scientific American Plugged In, March 23 , pondered the dramatically different results from questions about nuclear energy asked in polls by Gallup and the University of Texas (UT) and essentially ended puzzled, concluding that polls are faulty. But wait a minute. Both polls are accurate, and we can learn lessons about public opinion by studying them. Gallup’s Annual Environmental Poll includes one question about nuclear energy, an NEI tracking question: “Overall, do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States.” Gallup found 44 percent in favor and 54 percent op...

Ann Bisconti The following is a guest post by Ann S. Bisconti, PhD, President, Bisconti Research, Inc. After a decade of public opinion surveys that consistently find broad and deep support for nuclear energy among nuclear power plant neighbors, is it time to re-think NIMBY ? The conventional wisdom goes that “not-in-my-backyard,” is a barrier to nuclear energy. That may be true in some locations, but it is absolutely clear that a NIMBY attitude toward nuclear energy does not apply to most people who live close to America’s nuclear power plants. Six biennial surveys of U.S. nuclear power plant neighbors that we have conducted for the Nuclear Energy Institute since 2005 confirm that residents close to the facilities are far more favorable to nuclear energy than the general public, and they are very supportive of the local plant. The latest nuclear power plant neighbor survey , just released, was conducted May 26 through June 13. A random sample of 1,080 respondents was d...

Ann Bisconti The following is a guest post by Ann S. Bisconti, PhD, President, Bisconti Research, Inc. Davis Burroughs deserves credit for a sensible exploration of the gender differences in attitudes toward nuclear energy that his organization, Morning Consult , found in a national public opinion survey this spring. In that survey, 59 percent supported the use of nuclear energy and 29 percent opposed; 52 percent supported increasing the use of nuclear energy and 34 percent opposed. The gender differences in the Morning Consult survey are striking: Among men, 74 percent supported the use of nuclear energy and 20 percent opposed; Among women, 45 percent supported the use of nuclear energy and 36 percent opposed. It is tempting for commentators to dramatize this “gender divide” and convey a picture of strongly conflicting views , but Burroughs rejected drama for accuracy. He focused instead on the important fact that many people, especially women, took middle positions o...

Earlier this week, Michael Mariotte of NIRS posted a critique of public opinion polling on nuclear energy over at The Daily Kos .While I found some of his conclusions to be interesting, I thought it might be a good idea to share his piece with Ann Bisconti of Bisconti Research. After passing Mariotte's piece to Ann, she shared the following response with me: A recent discussion about public opinion on nuclear energy by Michael Mariotte, a representative of the antinuclear advocacy group, NIRS, makes some valid points but reaches the wrong conclusion.  I would like to offer a different perspective from Bisconti Research.  Our studies of public opinion on nuclear energy include nearly 100 national surveys conducted over a 29-year period.  Each survey asks 20 to 30 questions about various aspects of public opinion on nuclear energy. Some of these questions are open-ended to let us hear from the public in their own words. The result is a unique resource for examining lo...

Baruch Fischhoff wrote an informative piece at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists explaining how the nuclear industry can communicate better with the public : Working the crowd is essential for a technology such as nuclear energy, which depends on the public's acceptance to host plants, invest in industry firms, and support government subsidies and loan guarantees. Proponents want the world to believe that the public will increasingly be open to an energy source that directly produces no greenhouse gases, while opponents want the world to believe that the public will increasingly fear accidents, cost overruns, the uncertain future of nuclear waste, and the diversion of weapon-grade material to bomb making. In truth, neither side really knows what the public fears or wants. Unless supported by sound empirical evidence, claims about public opinion are just speculation. In the case of nuclear energy, there's surprisingly little research describing the public's concerns abou...

Earlier this evening Nuclear News Flashes from Platts moved a news item that didn't gibe with a lot of what I've read about public opinion and new nuclear plant construction : --A NEW POLL FOUND 65% OF RESPONDENTS WOULD OPPOSE A NEW NUCLEAR PLANT in their community. The results of the survey of 1,000 randomly selected respondents in the US were released October 10 by the Saint Consulting Group. The survey was conducted by the Logit Group in early August. The poll found that 58% of respondents would oppose an oil, coal, or natural gas plant. The poll found 76% would support a wind plant, while 53% would support a hydro plant and 50% would support a biofuels plant. "Support and opposition to all types of power plants tracks fairly consistently across all geographic regions of the US, with the Midwest the most receptive region to new power plant construction," the Saint Consulting Group said. The survey has a margin of error of 3.1%. After a blizzard of evening email tr...

The Cultural Cognition Project at Yale University Law School has just completed a new study entitled, Making Sense of - and Making Progress In - the American Culture War of Fact . Among the topics addressed in the study was public acceptance of nuclear energy, and some of the findings like this one caught my eye ... "Cultural individualists who are told that nuclear power will reduce greenhouse gas emissions are more likely to accept that global warming is caused by humans and is a serious threat than those who are told that restrictive anti-pollution regulations are necessary," said [Dan] Kahan [Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law at Yale Law School. "The reason is that anti-pollution regulations threaten the values of people who like commerce, whereas nuclear power strikes those same people as a good idea." Said Kahan, "Nuclear power makes individualists see green." Sounds like something we've been saying for quite a while now. To download the ...

For a while now, I've written that folks ought to be careful when reading public opinion polls concerning nuclear energy in Europe. For the most part, as we've pointed out here at NEI Nuclear Notes, these polls were taken before the 2005 crisis over natural gas supply that took place involving Russia and Ukraine -- an event that clearly demonstrated the need for diversity in Europe's energy portfolio. Well, I'm happy to announce that the polls have finally caught up to reality. From The Times (London): An overwhelming majority of people believe that nuclear power will have a role to play in meeting Britain’s future energy needs, despite continued opposition from environmental campaigners. The latest in a monthly series of ethical reports compiled for The Times describes a growing groundswell of support for a new generation of nuclear power plants. Nearly two thirds of those surveyed by Populus said they believed that nuclear power will form part of an overall energy ...

After reading about the results of an NEI-sponsored study that looked at how people living near nuclear power plants felt about new plants being built on current plant sites, Damon Cline of augusta.com had this to say : Now, I know what you’re thinking, of course a study paid for by a pro-nuclear group is going to look favorable for the industry, but consider this: The telephone survey of 1,152 randomly selected adults was conducted this summer by independent organizations, Bisconti Research Inc. and Quest Global Research Group, and excluded people employed by electric companies. All of the people selected for the survey were adults living near the nation’s 64 nuclear plants, including the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Generating Plant just south of Augusta, where two new reactors are in the works. The study, if nothing else, at least explains why protesters have to be bused in whenever there’s an anti-nuke demonstration at a power plant. To see more of NEI's public opinion research, cl...