A research company Elancom has presented the outcomes of a large-scale opinion poll conducted in the regions where all Russian NPPs (affiliate companies of the Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company, the Electric power division of the Rosatom State Corporation) are located. A team of sociologists studied how the residents perceive the nuclear power industry and what do they think of the neighbouring NPP operation.

According to the report presented by the company, the people support the advancement of the nuclear power plant and note that it plays a vital role in the social and economic development of its regions. That said, 74.4% of the residents in NPP location approve of using nuclear power as one of the ways to deliver electric power to our country. The share of like-minded – 87.13% - is even higher among the residents of cities located next to the plants. The increase has been very significant in some locations, for example, in the Kursk region where new blocks are under construction, and this is what residents associate further regional development with.

69.27% of the population in NPP location regions indicated they are positive about the nearby nuclear power plant, with the share of the like-minded in cities located next to the plants reaching 84.62%. Over half of the respondents in all represented regions have noted that the availability of a nuclear power plant is a huge benefit compared to those regions that don’t have an NPP. The residents of cities located closely to NPPs had the same opinion in over 60-70% of cases.

When answering the question ‘To your mind, which power sources will be the ones of the future?’, the two most popular options echoed the last year responses – ‘Nuclear power’ and ‘Alternative energy sources’. These two have been well ahead of other generation types (hydro, gas and coal energy).

The most popular responses to the ‘What do you associate the Russian nuclear power industry with?’ in the NPP locations were ‘An effective replacement for oil and gas’, ‘a prospective source of power’ and ‘good for the humanity’.

The poll was conducted in 10 regions of the country – the Leningrad, the Rostov, the Kursk, the Tver, the Sverdlovsk, the Kaliningrad, the Murmans, the Saratov, the Voronezh, and the Smolensk regions. All in all, 10,000 people from 60 cities took part in the survey.

‘The survey was conducted during a very challenging time for people due to the restrictions caused by the coronavirus. Despite that, people have been very responding. This is why we would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to them for making the 2020 poll happening’, Anna Dvinskih, the project head at Elancom, said.