The FuTure oF nuclear Fuel cycle - MIT Energy Initiative

attitudeS about Global WarminG and nuClear poWer
Growing concern about carbon emissions from fossil fuels and global warming may bolster
public support for nuclear power as an option, just as concerns about waste storage have
acted as a drag. The potential connection between carbon emissions and climate change
motivated the original MIT Study on the Future of Nuclear Power. And, since that time,
there has been growing international and national focus on climate change and the possible
contribution of nuclear power to the reduction of carbon emissions. Expert judgments
concerning global warming are increasingly used to justify the expansion of nuclear power
as part of national climate policy.
The connection between expanding nuclear power and reducing carbon emissions is not,
however, so clear among the American public.
The 2002 and 2007 MIT surveys found no evidence that public concern about carbon emissions
and climate change translates into higher levels of support for nuclear power. The
surveys asked about concern about global warming using a variety of questions, including
identification of global warming as an important environmental problem, statements
of concern about global warming, and willingness to pay higher electricity bills to lower
carbon emissions. The surveys also asked about willingness to expand the use of nuclear
power. In the 2002 and 2007 surveys, there was either no or a negative correlation between
respondents’ degree of concern with global warming and their support for expansion of
nuclear power. That was true for simple correlations and partial correlations, holding constant
demographic characteristics of individuals and understanding of and attitudes about
energy and environmental issues. This lack of correlation suggests that if people become
more concerned about climate change, we do not expect public support for nuclear power
to change as well.
The 2003 MIT energy survey reveals that the reason may lie in public impressions about
nuclear power. In that survey approximately half of the people stated that nuclear power
was a substantial contributor to carbon emissions.
The 2009 survey asked people directly about their willingness to trade off global warming
risks against nuclear power risks. Specifically, the survey asks:
Nuclear Power plants produce little or no greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.
Should the U.S. expand the use of nuclear power as a means of reducing the risks of
global warming?
expand nuclear power to lower carbon emissions. 36%
The risks associated with nuclear power are too great, even though 25%
global warming is a serious problem.
The risks of global warming are exaggerated and do not justify the 15%
use of nuclear power.
The risks of global warming are exaggerated but I’d like to see more 23%
nuclear power for other reasons.
While the modal response was to say that the risks of global warming justify the expansion
of nuclear power, that group was far from a majority of respondents. A majority did
chose options favoring the expansion of nuclear power, but that coalition consists of those
chapter 9: american attitudes about nuclear Power and nuclear Waste 131