Despite the ongoing reactor crisis at the Fukushima
Daiichi plant in Japan, a recent Gallup poll indicates a majority of Americans
still feel nuclear energy is safe.
According to Gallup, 58 percent of those surveyed recently said
nuclear plants in the U.S. are safe, as opposed to 36 percent who said they are
not. While a majority also indicated the events in Japan made them more worried
about a nuclear accident in the U.S., their opinions on plant safety varied
little from an earlier survey from 2009.
In a question addressing support for new reactor
construction, 46 percent responded “nuclear power is necessary to help solve
the country’s current energy problems,” compared to 48 percent who replied “the
dangers of nuclear power are too great, even if it would help solve the country's
current energy problems.” Those results differed little from responses in a
similar poll conducted 10 years ago.
The latest poll involved phone interviews with 1,027
adults in the continental U.S. conducted between March 25 and March 27. The
poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.