ElaNCom, a research company, has presented the outcomes of a large-scale survey among the population of areas where all Russian NPPs are located (the subsidiaries of the Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company, Electric power division of the Rosatom State Corporation).

It was conducted in March-April in 10 Russian regions, the Leningrad, Rostov, Murmansk, Saratov, Tver, Smolensk, Voronezh, Kursk, Sverdlovsk, and Kaliningrad regions in particular, encompassing 10 thousand people in total located in 60 cities.

The main goal of the auditors was to study the way the nuclear power industry is perceived by residents and how they feel about the operation of NPPs located in their areas.

According to the company’s report, there is no single opinion among residents with regard to nuclear power; however, there are positive changes, and positive responses prevail greatly above the negative ones.

Experts believe that, all in all, the residents of these regions support the development of nuclear power industry and feel it plays an important part in the social and economic advancement of their respective areas.

For instance, the number of respondents per region who approve of nuclear power as one of the ways to supply electric power to our country looks as follows:

• the Voronezh region – 75.3 % (Novovoronezh city – 72.6 %);
• the Kaliningrad region – 59 % (Neman city – 88.1 %);
• the Kursk region – 61.9 % (Kurchatov city – 81.1 %);
• the Leningrad region – 76.5 % (Sosnovyy bor city – 84.8 %);
• the Murmansk region – 76.5 % (Poliarnye Zori city – 98.5 %);
• the Rostov region – 69.2 % (Volgodonsk city – 66.6 %);
• the Saratov region – 68.7 % (Balakovo city – 78.8 %);
• the Sverdlovsk region – 62.7 % (Zarechnyy city – 97.3 %);
• the Smolensk region – 80 % (Desnogorsk city – 92.3 %);
• the Tver region – 70.7 % (Udomlia city – 88.6 %).

These numbers show that almost all residents of the so-called ‘close-to-the-station’ cities approve of the nuclear power to a greater extent than other people in the region. The reason for that is because those living in satellite towns can see first-hand why the nuclear power industry that they have committed brings a lot of benefits.

It is important to note that over a half of respondents in all regions feel that having an NPP in their area is a huge advantage over those who have none, and over 60-70% of residents in satellite towns feel the same.

When answering the question ‘Which sources of energy, from your point of view, will make it to the future?’, the respondents mainly answered with either ‘nuclear power’ or ‘alternative source of energy’, with both receiving far more votes than other options (hydropower, gas and coal)