Abstract
Nuclear power technology (NPT) perception and acceptance have globally emerged as the most critical questions for the successful integration of NPT into any national energy mix. In its combination with seawater desalination, NPT provides a sustainable alternative for the security and economic efficiency of both energy and fresh water supply, the latter of which has been identified as “the bloodstream of the biosphere”. Integrating econometric analysis into energy research with social science ramifications, this paper relies on bivariate ordered probit regression to study the impact of youths’ interests in the biosphere on their awareness and optimism toward NPT in the UAE. The model is estimated using maximum likelihood methods, with the results showing each level increase in UAE youths’ biospheric interests, to increase their NPT awareness by 13.5%, while conjointly reducing their optimistic expectations toward the technology by 2.4%. In addition, awareness and expectations about NPT are found to vary heterogeneously across the seven Emirates of the country. Moreover, accounting for all relevant factors (including respondents’ biospheric interests), formed expectations about NPT are not significantly shaped by NPT awareness. Given that the first unit of the UAE’s nuclear power plant “Barakah” just became operational in August 2020, our results provide important insights for evidence-based policy making to sustain the nascent nuclear energy program in the long run.
Highlights
The rhetoric of energy transitions and the sociotechnical imageries surrounding energy systems, especially during their formative years, has been the subject of growing interest to scholars in energy research [1,2,3]
It can be noted from the map that the greatest awareness and optimistic expectations are expressed in Dubai (46.9% and 47.5%, respectively), followed by
The study is a follow up to [59], which relied on the same data source to look at Nuclear power technology (NPT) awareness and expectations within NAFTA; It complements [60], which addressed NPT acceptance in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s transient adult population
Summary
The rhetoric of energy transitions and the sociotechnical imageries surrounding energy systems, especially during their formative years, has been the subject of growing interest to scholars in energy research [1,2,3]. Sovacool suggested in [4] that:. “How people imagine energy technologies and their futures is clearly important to understand how and why people invest in them financially, personally, professionally, and otherwise, and it is a critical social facet of energy transitions”. In a recent follow-up review, Edwards et al [5] identified a limited number of studies reporting on individuals’ psychological experiences of living with NPT; they concluded by reiterating the need.
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