US Public Attitudes toward Clean Energy 2024 - Nuclear
- richardollington
- 2 hours ago
- 4 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. This report applies PACE’s international best practices to analyze US public opinion. The index was launched to inform industry, government, and investors. 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 National Opinion
Support for nuclear energy outweighs opposition by 1.5 times. Across 23 surveyed states, 40% of respondents support nuclear energy, compared to 27% who oppose it. Every state surveyed shows net support, with the highest levels recorded in Georgia, Texas, and Arizona.
Nuclear may act as a safeguard for climate action, providing insurance against potential backlash to net-zero goals. Among climate action skeptics, nuclear energy has the highest level of net support (+32%) of any clean energy technology, ahead of gas with carbon capture and storage (+13%) and large-scale solar farms (+13%).
Preference for nuclear energy is larger than for onshore wind, biomass from trees, or gas with carbon capture and storage. While 20% of respondents believe their country should prioritize nuclear energy, this ranks just behind large-scale solar farms at 32%. Among Republican voters, nuclear stands as the most favored clean energy option.
Regarding government policy, the public wants to keep using nuclear energy and build new plants. Over 3x as many respondents want to keep using nuclear energy rather than phase it out. In most surveyed states, over 40% support the building of new nuclear plants – 2x as many as those wanting it to be phased out.
Political Differences
Support for nuclear is less politically divided than for onshore wind farms or large-scale solar farms. Republican voters have 21 percentage points higher net support for nuclear than Democrats, while Democrats favor wind and solar by 43 and 39 points, respectively – making the partisan gap on nuclear half as wide.
Republican and Democratic voters share similar views on key energy attributes and environmental issues, but concern for climate change remains the most significant dividing factor between them.
Energy Attributes
Reliability is the public’s highest-priority energy attribute. Nuclear is seen as the most reliable thermal energy source. No energy attribute is seen as important by a greater share of the public than reliability. While 68% of respondents view nuclear as reliable, biomass and natural gas with carbon capture and storage are seen as reliable by around 50%.
Emissions from nuclear energy are seen as high by a plurality. Around a third (37%) of respondents see nuclear energy as creating no or low levels of carbon emissions, while 43% see nuclear energy as creating moderate or high levels of carbon emissions.
Concerns for nuclear safety and waste management are relatively evenly spread across the country, with little difference in states with historical nuclear waste controversies. Pennsylvania, Washington, and Nevada are home to the Three Mile Island accident, the Hanford nuclear waste site, and the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, respectively. These states share comparable safety and waste management concerns with the other 20 states included in the survey.
Concern for the time it takes to build nuclear has not stopped nuclear from being popular in states affected by delays. Georgia and South Carolina were significantly impacted by delays in the construction of Vogtle Units 3 & 4 and the eventual abandonment of the V.C. Summer reactors, respectively. While these states are understandably among the most concerned about the time it takes to build nuclear plants, they are also two of the strongest in support for nuclear energy.
Demographic Breakdowns
Support for nuclear is typically highest among men, Asian and White ethnicities, those least concerned about climate change, those most knowledgeable about how nuclear energy works, those over 65, higher earners, and those with higher educational attainment.
Women show a consistently lower level of positive perception toward nuclear energy than men.
The correlation between environmental nonprofit membership and nuclear support varies by state and by age. In New York, and nationally among 25-45-year-olds, nuclear support is highest among those who are members of environmental nonprofits. In Kentucky and Colorado, and nationally among those over 55 years old, the inverse is true.
Interactive Geographical Views
In many Congressional Districts and counties, sample sizes are too small to be statistically representative. Therefore, the maps should be interpreted as indicative rather than representative of the geographical distribution of public opinion.
Partners' Comments
“Nuclear is the low carbon energy source that is most supported by ‘climate action skeptics’ and preferred by Republican voters despite being an effective climate solution. Nuclear energy may become the best insurance option for decarbonization in the current political climate.”
Richard Ollington – Partner at Radiant Energy Group
“The United States Congress supports nuclear. However, support breaks down at the state and demographic levels. It is important for the nuclear industry to understand its political, gender, and age divides to obtain long-term policy stability and a robust talent pipeline.”
Madison Hilly – Partner at Radiant Energy Group
“As you read through this report, you’re not just learning what America as a country thinks about nuclear and other clean energy sources, you’re getting a glimpse at the lives of the over 23,000 individuals that took the time and the effort to tell us what they think and why.”
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.
Downloads
Full report download
Data table