Growing Support for Nuclear Energy

Have you ever wondered if your neighbor supports nuclear energy? Judging from recent public opinion surveys, there’s a good chance they do. The Pew Research Center and Gallup, two respected research organizations, both conducted polls this year that revealed growing support for nuclear energy. 

Pew’s survey found that 57% of Americans favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity. Pew’s data is valuable as it tracks movement in opinion over a number of years. From 2016 to 2020, support for nuclear energy held steady around 45%, then jumped to 54% in 2022. 2023’s numbers show a 3-point increase in support since last year as nuclear energy continues to gain favor. This increase is happening across political parties, as both Democrat and Republican respondents reported increased favorability for nuclear energy. 

Gallup also found that more than half of Americans—55%, according to their poll—favor the use of nuclear energy.  This number is a whopping increase of 11 points since 2016, and an increase of 4 points since the last survey in 2022. It’s a big deal for two independent research firms to find that over half of Americans favor nuclear, and that support is growing year over year.  

Gallup has been tracking favorability toward nuclear in the United States since 1994. Looking at the discourse around energy and the environment over time helps us understand what factors might be increasing support for nuclear energy: 

• Climate concerns: Nuclear energy is a clean source of power, so its popularity has grown as a climate solution. Americans are becoming more concerned about climate change (Gallup found that 61% of respondents are worried a “great deal” or “fair amount” about climate), and nuclear energy provides abundant power without air pollution.  
• Good news about nuclear: The nuclear industry is thriving, with many exciting achievements for the current fleet and new reactors. The federal government has taken major policy steps to support current and next-generation nuclear technologies. In 2023, Vogtle 3—the first new reactor built in the U.S. since 2016—started commercial operations. And there’s been significant progress toward deploying new nuclear, with companies like Dow Chemical and PacifiCorp announcing their intentions to use nuclear energy. All this good news drives support. 
• Energy independence and availability: While experts predict increasing demand for electricity, we are experiencing energy scarcity at home and abroad, with Gallup reporting that 73% of Americans are worried about the availability and affordability of energy. We see this day-to-day with high gas prices and on a global scale when power is cut as a tool of war. Nuclear is a source of plentiful power and American leadership in nuclear energy is a pathway to reliable energy for all countries. These factors are driving support for nuclear energy worldwide as well. Potential Energy Coalition conducted a survey on opinions toward new nuclear in eight countries, including Poland, France, and South Korea, which showed that support for nuclear energy outnumbers opposition in all eight countries surveyed. Poland had the highest level of support, with 84% agreeing or strongly agreeing with the use of the latest nuclear energy technologies. Taking an average of all eight countries, strong support for nuclear outweighs strong opposition by a ratio of 5:1.  

The bottom line is that public opinion researchers are finding that over half of Americans support nuclear, with that number continuing to grow. As nuclear energy increasingly becomes the answer to energy and environmental concerns, there’s a very good and growing chance that your neighbor or someone across the world is a nuclear supporter.