Public Attitudes toward Clean Energy 2024 - Nuclear
- richardollington
- Jun 2
- 5 min read
The Public Attitudes toward Clean Energy (PACE) index is the world’s largest publicly released survey on what people think about nuclear energy. The index is published to inform industry, government, and investors about what the public needs and expects from clean energy. Surveying is conducted by Savanta, commissioned and analyzed by Radiant Energy Group. The purpose of PACE is to measure support/opposition for clean energy sources and to identify what drives those attitudes, and how institutions can better cater to what the public wants.
Executive Summary
The Global Opinion
Twice as many people support nuclear energy as oppose it. Across the countries surveyed, which represent almost two-thirds of the world’s population, 46% support nuclear energy compared to 23% who oppose it. 22 of the 31 countries surveyed have net support (support exceeding opposition) for nuclear energy’s use. Support is over 3x higher than opposition in China, Poland, and Russia.
Support for nuclear, large-scale solar, and onshore wind is down from 2023 levels. In many countries, the decline in nuclear’s net support was driven by former supporters shifting to a neutral position, neither supporting nor opposing nuclear’s use. Spain was the only country where net support rose year over year.
Nuclear energy may serve as a safeguard for climate action, offering insurance against potential backlash to net-zero goals. Among climate skeptics in the G7, nuclear has the highest net support (+23%) of any clean energy source, surpassing biomass from trees (+13%) and onshore wind farms (+11%).
Preference for nuclear energy is lower than for large-scale solar farms. One in five respondents believe their country should prioritize nuclear energy over other energy sources, larger than for onshore wind, biomass from trees, or gas with carbon capture and storage. Nuclear energy benefits from an uplift in preference among those with technology-neutral support for nuclear, wind, and solar energies.
The public supports continued use of nuclear energy and the construction of new plants. More than 3x as many respondents want to keep using nuclear as want to phase it out. In most countries surveyed, over 40% support building new nuclear plants. In Russia, Poland, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and France, public support for subsidizing new nuclear construction is comparable to support for subsidizing large-scale solar and onshore wind.
Energy Attributes
In nearly all countries surveyed, respondents consider health & safety, reliability, and tackling climate change to be the top three priorities. Concern for nuclear safety is high. Almost half of those surveyed ranked health and safety in their top three important energy considerations. 86% of respondents are concerned about the health and safety implications of nuclear’s use.
Emissions from nuclear energy are seen as high by a plurality. 42% of respondents see nuclear energy as creating no or low levels of carbon emissions, while 48% see nuclear energy as creating moderate or high levels of carbon emissions.
Cost of nuclear is seen as low by more people than the cost of wind or solar in countries that have previously phased out nuclear’s use. In Germany, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Sweden, countries that have had the largest politically-mandated nuclear phase-outs or closures, nuclear energy is the most positively viewed technology for reducing energy bills.
All countries show strong concern about nuclear waste. Countries pursuing one of several different waste solutions show less negative attitudes towards nuclear waste. Public concern about nuclear waste is relatively low in Finland, home to the Onkalo repository. Similarly low levels of concern are seen in the Netherlands, which stores its waste at its above-ground COVRA facility, as well as in Egypt and Turkey, which plan to send their spent fuel back to Russia.
Demographic Breakdowns
Left-Right political preference appear to be the main demographic divide in nuclear support, followed by gender and level of concern for climate change. Nuclear support is typically highest among those who align with right-wing political parties, men, those not concerned about climate change, those from high-income households, and those in their 60s and above. In Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and South Africa, political divides present the largest demographic gaps in support. Unlike in the other seven countries, in South Africa, it is the left-leaning voters who are most supportive of nuclear.
Focused Analysis
Answering a key nuclear knowledge question correctly did not always correlate with greater support for nuclear. Among women, those left-aligned politically, and people who are very concerned about climate change, nuclear support is similarly low whether or not respondents correctly answered that uranium is an input fuel used in nuclear energy.
People who say they don’t know much about solar or wind tend to default to supporting these technology. But those who don’t know much about nuclear tend to oppose it.
Among environmental concerns, fewer than one in five respondents considered radioactive contamination a top three environmental concern. The top three concerns were climate change, air pollution, and water and microplastic pollution. This ranking is fairly consistent between genders and countries.
News & TV and social media are the public’s main stated sources of information about nuclear energy. Ukraine is the only country surveyed where independent research was more commonly cited as a source for nuclear information than news & TV or social media.
Developing countries and countries with a nascent national nuclear industry rank as the most trusting of other nations to help build new nuclear power plants. Given that the majority of respondents say they know little about nuclear energy, geopolitical and other non-technical factors may have a larger bearing on nuclear trust of certain countries than nuclear expertise.
Partners' Comments
“The US’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is a perfect example of how precarious climate politics can be. Nuclear – the clean energy our polling finds most supported by skeptics of climate action – may become the best insurance option for decarbonization in democracies.”
Richard Ollington – Partner at Radiant Energy Group
“Seven decades after the arrival of nuclear power, nuclear waste has emerged as the most important concern shared around the world, blocking public acceptance of this technology. We've polled dozens of countries without committed waste solutions, and a few countries with, and find reason to hope that serious progress on the issue can be made in the coming years.”
Madison Hilly – Partner at Radiant Energy Group
“We're proud to present this snapshot of the attitudes, hopes, and fears of more than thirty thousand people around the world. By our estimate, to inform this report the global public put 8,000 hours into sharing their thoughts about what is still the most controversial topic in energy: nuclear power.”
Mark W. Nelson – Managing Director at Radiant Energy Group
Try The Survey Yourself - Tell Us What You Think
This is not the official PACE survey. Although it includes the same questions, this version is intended solely to gather insights on the questions themselves and your user experience. The official PACE survey is conducted by Savanta using a dedicated surveying platform.
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