Support For Nuclear Power Is Increasing Across Europe

Recent opinion polls in several European countries showed widespread, increasing support for nuclear energy, considered an effective and crucial tool to mitigate climate change, boost decarbonisation, and secure national energy independence.

 

Sweden

The share of people who want to keep using nuclear power in Sweden is at a record high of 56%, according to an annual survey by the Som Institute at Gothenburg University, marking an impressive increase on the previous year and the highest percentage in the history of the survey, which started in 1986.

Support for nuclear power recorded the largest increase in the last two years, while 42% of respondents want to invest more in nuclear power in Sweden, while 32% want more reactors to be built. They were only 13% in 2020.

For the first time since Fukushima-Daiichi accident, the Som Institute recorded more Swedes who want to use nuclear power than want to phase it out. The long-term use of nuclear and its benefits, as said before, are among the main reasons for this growth.

Here you can find the survey by Som Institute.

In 2022, other opinion polls reported record high levels of support for nuclear energy in Sweden, like this one made by Novus for Analysgruppen.

 

Belgium

A poll, commissioned by local media outlets Le Soir, RTL Info, Het Laatste Nieuws and VTM, found that a large majority of Belgians (69%) approves the government’s decision of March 2022 to allow the two newest nuclear plants, Doel-4 and Tihange-3, to operate for 10-years beyond 2025.

Furthermore, 58% of respondents were in favour of extending the operating lifetime of all seven units in Belgium’s reactor fleet, two of which – Doel-3 and Tihange-2 – have already been shut down, bringing the number in operation to five.

 

Estonia

A government poll published in March 2023 found that 75% of Estonians support the building of a nuclear power plant in the Baltic country, while only 17% were against and the remaining 8% were undecided.

Energy security and cheaper electricity were the two main reasons behind support for nuclear power, with 47% citing the former and 46% the latter. Another 22% said nuclear can help meet Estonia’s climate targets.

Read more on NucNet.

Last February, the Estonian nuclear company Fermi Energia announced the selection of GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 as the technology for the first planned Small Modular Reactor (SMR) in Estonia. Moreover, the government’s nuclear energy working group (NEPIO) is preparing a final report on plans for nuclear that should be ready by the end of the year.