Sustainability of nuclear energy in Korea: From the users’ perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of nuclear energy risk perception, benefit perception, and political orientation on nuclear energy consumption behaviour from the nuclear energy users' perspectives. The existing studies on nuclear energy acceptance have mainly used local or public acceptance as outcome variables with a single dimension and haven't considered users' risk and benefit perceptions as multi-dimensional constructs. Therefore, this study examines the impacts of nuclear energy risk and benefit perceptions at social and personal levels on the attitude and usage intention towards nuclear energy. In addition, this study examines the relationships between political orientation, attitude, and usage intention towards nuclear energy. This study conducted hierarchical multiple regression analysis on 312 samples collected through random sampling from each region in Korea through the stratified sampling method. This study found that users with lower social and personal risk perceptions of nuclear energy and with higher social benefit perception of nuclear energy tend to have more positive attitude towards nuclear energy, and greater usage intention of nuclear energy. And this study also found that conservatives and authoritarians show more positive nuclear energy consumption behaviour than socilaists and libertarians. From these findings, the study discusses practical and theoretical implications for nuclear energy policies in Korea.