Survey: Europeans Support Cutting Down on Financing of Nuclear Energy Sector

Europeans support cutting down investments in nuclear energy, according to the results of a survey conducted by Benenson Strategy Group together with First International Resources in late February through the first half of March 2011. The relevance of the survey on the prospect of nuclear energy is increasing due to the recent developments at Japan's Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant and forthcoming 25th anniversary of Chernobyl disaster.

The survey has revealed that even before the earthquake in Japan, the majority of European respondents of the survey conducted in seven countries (France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Great Britain, and Ukraine) would not favor further investments into the nuclear power sector. Thus, only 12 percent of German respondents supported the increase of investments into the nuclear sector, whereas 70 percent opposed it. On the other hand, the majority of Ukrainian respondents (Ukraine was a site of Chernobyl accident in 1986.) supported the increase of investments into nuclear energy - 35 to 18 percent of respondents.

At the same time, about half of respondents agreed that investing in nuclear energy sector would promote their economies. On the other hand, the question about how investments in nuclear energy would influence the accessibility to electric energy almost equally divided the respondents' opinion. The survey also demonstrated the most recognized advantages of the nuclear energy - it is an environmentally friendly and cheap energy source.

In Ukraine the survey has been conducted in the form of individual interviews among 1021 adult respondents (over 18 years old). In Europe the survey was conducted among 500 respondents from each country who shared their opinion in "face-to-face" and telephone interviews. The survey represents plus or minus 4 percent margin error at a 95 percent confidence level. Almost all of the respondents were questioned before the accident in Japan.

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