Acceptance Of Nuclear Power Research Articles

The development of the international nuclear power plant construction market in the context of nuclear power social acceptability research

Aim. To determine the vector of influence of public opinion on the prospects of development of the international market of nuclear power plant (NPP) construction in the conditions of global energy transition and to formulate the most priority directions of communication work in order to increase the Russian export of nuclear power technologies in the markets of developing countries.Objectives. To identify the current trends of social acceptability of nuclear power in the world; to consider a number of tools used to work with public opinion in the field of improving the reputation of nuclear power in countries-importers of nuclear power technologies; to substantiate the importance of communication work in order to increase Russian exports of nuclear power technologies in the markets of developing countries.Methods. Data from various sociological surveys were used to analyze the current state of social acceptability of nuclear power plants. The key methods of this study are comparative method and case study method.Results. The analysis of the international experience of society’s influence on energy policy has shown that it is impossible to implement international projects in the field of NPP construction without public support for the initiative on nuclear power development. The analysis revealed that one of the competitive advantages of ROSATOM in the international NPP construction market is the inclusion of public communication work in the export offer. Based on the analysis of the results of sociological surveys, it was found out that within the framework of communication work with the public in the importer country it is reasonable to emphasize the economic benefits of NPP operation and continuity of its functioning.Conclusions. The article shows the possibilities of increasing the Russian export of nuclear power technologies in the markets of developing countries, due to the global trend to increase the social acceptability of nuclear power and the presence of relevant competitive advantages, including within the framework of the implementation of communication strategy.

Regulatory transparency and citizen support for government decisions: evidence from nuclear power acceptance in China

ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of transparency as a governance mechanism on citizen support for controversial governmental decisions to public facilities. Building on the government transparency literature, this article argues that regulatory transparency has a double-sided meaning of regulatory enforcement and rule violations. Due to the ambiguity inherent in regulatory performance information, citizens may interpret disclosed information as a reflection of prevalent rule violations and thereby reduce support for relevant public facilities. Furthermore, the negative association between regulatory transparency and citizen support is contingent on citizens’ use of social media. We test these arguments in the nuclear energy regulatory domain using original, nationally representative survey data and an independent environmental regulation transparency index in China. Findings reveal that regulatory transparency reduces citizen support for proposed nuclear power programs. We also find that regulatory transparency is particularly influential for respondents with relatively higher levels of social media usage. These findings highlight the dilemma that governments face when they seek to enhance policy support through transparency in the digital age.

Does the Fukushima nuclear accident still matter? Analysis of its mediated effects on five dimensions of nuclear power acceptance by using the parallel multiple mediator model

Although 10 years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear accident, it continues to greatly impact global energy policy and the acceptance of nuclear power. This study aims to empirically analyze the Fukushima accident's effects on five dimensions of nuclear power acceptance and the interactions of these effects with various determinants of nuclear power acceptance. We analyze survey data from 1020 Korean respondents and find that they remain highly worried about the Fukushima accident 10 years later. The Fukushima accident has negative impacts on the general acceptance of nuclear power, acceptance of nuclear power's contributions to addressing climate change, acceptance of high-level radioactive waste disposal sites, and acceptance of extensions of old nuclear power plants. However, the accident has a positive impact on the acceptance of denuclearization policies. Our parallel multiple mediator model shows that the Fukushima accident has only an indirect effect on general acceptance; this effect is negative and significant. The accident has a positive direct and indirect effect on acceptance of denuclearization policies but negative direct and indirect effects on the acceptability of high-level nuclear waste disposal and extensions of old nuclear power plants. Finally, we find a positive direct effect and a negative indirect effect of the accident on acceptance of nuclear power's contributions to addressing climate change. The latter is greater than the former, meaning that acceptance of nuclear power in the context of addressing climate change fell in response to the accident. In short, the Fukushima accident has different direct and indirect effects across different dimensions of nuclear power acceptance.

Students' Acceptance of Nuclear Power in the Philippines

Students' Acceptance of Nuclear Power in the Philippines

Assessment of public knowledge, perception, and acceptance of nuclear power in Bangladesh

Public perception plays a crucial role in the successful completion of a nuclear power project. As a newcomer country to nuclear power, there are lots of misconceptions among the Bangladeshi people about nuclear energy. Consequently, it is crucial to minimize all the doubts among mass people and build up their positive outlook toward nuclear power. This demands a comprehensive survey to figure out the public opinion, concerns, false impressions, and knowledge gap regarding nuclear power. In the present study, these issues were addressed by a survey that was responded to by 661 persons for the 24 survey questions. The questions were categorized based on information, knowledge, faith, benefit, awareness, and technology. Feedback and responders' basic demographic and socioeconomic information were collected from various locations in Bangladesh through online and in-person surveys. The responses were analyzed in both statistical and descriptive ways. Some of the feedback was found to vary with age, sex, and education level while others were quite independent of these parameters. It is found that socio-economic development and energy security can be achieved by the inclusion of nuclear energy in the power system master plan of the country. However, huge knowledge gaps and misconceptions were found among the public regarding nuclear energy. As per feedback, political instability and corruption may affect the national nuclear power project in Bangladesh. Low faith in the existing rules & regulations for nuclear power programs was also observed. The result of this study will be handy to develop the communication and public awareness strategy for a successful nuclear power project in Bangladesh.

How Social Impressions Affect Public Acceptance of Nuclear Energy: A Case Study in China

Expanding the proportion of nuclear energy to shift the current energy structure and reduce carbon emission has been acknowledged by the China National Energy Administration. As a typical NIMBY facility, nuclear power plants are faced with a dilemma. Increasing the public acceptance of nuclear power is important for its development. Although multiple studies have shown the factors affecting the public acceptance, few of them focused on the effects of social impression brought about by nuclear power on public attitudes. In this study, a theoretical model was established to examine the impact of social impression (including impression management and stigmatization), knowledge, social trust, perceived risk, and perceived benefit on the public acceptance of nuclear energy. The data in this study were obtained through a questionnaire survey (N = 577) of residents near the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant in China. The results showed that impression management did not directly affect the acceptance but had a positive effect on knowledge. Knowledge and perceived risk or perceived benefit play roles as chain intermediaries between impression management and public acceptance. Stigmatization negatively affects the social trust and public acceptance of nuclear energy. Social trust and perceived risk or perceived benefit act as chain intermediaries between stigmatization and public acceptance. The path “impression management affects knowledge, and knowledge affects perceived risk, then perceived risk finally affects public acceptance” is optimal among all the paths. Moreover, knowledge has no significant effect on public acceptance but negatively affects perceived risk. Social trust positively affects perceived benefit and public acceptance. It is also indicated that perceived benefit has a stronger effect on public acceptance than perceived risk. The findings in this study could inform the government regarding potential social management and recommendations on policy making.

Public attention, perception, and attitude towards nuclear power in China: A large-scale empirical analysis based on social media

This study aims to explore the public's attention, perception and attitude towards nuclear power expressed on social media platforms. Specifically, the status of public perception, information communication and geospatial distribution of public attention to nuclear power are investigated. More than 450,000 posts collected from Sina Weibo from January 2015 to December 2019 are analysed by integrated social network analysis, keyword and text theme analysis and sentiment analysis. Estimation results reveal several important findings. Firstly, nuclear power has received growing attention from the Chinese public on social media platforms since 2015. The dynamic changes in public attention are closely related to the dissemination of news events and online short videos. Secondly, some individual bloggers and media users strongly influence nuclear power-related information communication. In particular, several science bloggers have played a central role in the communication network, contrasting with NGOs and private associations. Thirdly, from a geospatial perspective, public attention on nuclear power in the eastern coastal areas of the Chinese mainland is much higher than in inland and western regions. Fourthly, people's perceptions have focused on the progress of nuclear power technology projects and nuclear accidents. Moreover, their attitude towards Chinese nuclear power projects and technologies is generally positive. The innovation of this study lies in the proposed methodological framework based on social media data. The framework expands the paradigm and dimension of public perception research. This study provides comprehensive analysis and support to nuclear power acceptance improvement and energy policy-making.

Nuclear power in jeopardy: The negative relationships between greenhouse gas/fine dust concerns and nuclear power acceptance in South Korea

South Korea, a country that built a world-class nuclear power infrastructure, shifted to a nuclear phase-out during the previous government's reign. This shift was pursued as part of a larger task of electricity mix reform, and one of the integral motives for such reform is addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) and fine dust problems. Thus, verifying the relationships between the public's concerns about GHG/fine dust and their acceptance of nuclear power generation is essential for designing public communication strategies to revive nuclear power under the ongoing environmental regime. Our analysis using a nationwide survey sample of South Korea (N = 1009, through proportionated quota sampling method) showed that the more people are concerned about GHG and fine dust, the less they accept nuclear power. These relationships held even after controlling for the effect of a third variable—energy-related environmentalism. This finding means that despite past communication efforts positioning nuclear power as a generation source that can mitigate GHG/fine dust emissions and the widely accepted scientific evidence that supports such positioning, nuclear power in Korea is in jeopardy. Our finding provides implications for public communications and fundamental knowledge for research on the determinants of nuclear power acceptance.

Assessment of Public Knowledge, Perception and Acceptance of Nuclear Power in Bangladesh

Assessment of Public Knowledge, Perception and Acceptance of Nuclear Power in Bangladesh

Molten Salt Reactor Sourdough Refueling and Waste Management Strategy

This paper presents a new approach to the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) problem, which is uniquely enabled by a liquid fuel form, specifically as in the case of molten salt reactor (MSR) systems. Managing the SNF problem is critical for public acceptance of nuclear power as a climate change solution. An MSR can be refueled while operating by adding more fresh fuel salt, which grows the in-core fuel salt volume. This growth will eventually double the size of the original fuel salt, allowing to start another core with this excess fuel so long as the daughter reactor is of the same design and there is sufficient excess fuel. This study explores how such a “sourdough” strategy would work in MSRs and provides an initial calculation methodology to find the correct refueling rates to match the desired growth curve of power generation. Higher uranium enrichment levels of the refuel salt result in lower refueling rates and thus a longer doubling time. As a result, the refuel salt uranium enrichment can be tailored to match a postulated clean power generation capacity expansion. This approach allows postponing the spent nuclear fuel disposal issue using the sourdough method. Along with the MSR fuel’s unique properties, it suggests a new path towards managing nuclear waste until long-term solutions become economically viable.

Extending the Coverage of the Trust–Acceptability Model: The Negative Effect of Trust in Government on Nuclear Power Acceptance in South Korea under a Nuclear Phase-Out Policy

This article extends the coverage of the trust–acceptability model to a new situation of nuclear phase-out by investigating the effect of trust on the public acceptance of nuclear power, with South Korea as the research setting. Through the structural equation modeling of a nationwide survey dataset from South Korea, we examined the effects of the public’s trust in the various actors related to nuclear power on their perceptions of the benefits and risks of nuclear power and their acceptance of nuclear power. Contrary to previous studies’ findings, in South Korea, under a nuclear phase-out policy by the government, trust in government revealed a negative impact on the public acceptance of nuclear power. Trust in environmental non-governmental groups also showed a negative effect on nuclear power acceptance. In contrast, trust in nuclear energy authority and trust in nuclear academia both had positive effects. In all cases, the effect of a trust variable on nuclear power acceptance was at least partially accounted for by the trust’s indirect effects through benefit perception and risk perception. These findings strengthen the external validity of the trust–acceptability model and provide implications for both researchers and practitioners.

Young Chinese people's radiological beliefs significantly associated with their opinions on nuclear power

Previous studies suggest a significant correlation between risk perception and acceptance of nuclear power, but opinions of people with different perceived radiological risk seemed not captured. A national online survey was conducted to learn about the correlation between young Chinese people's beliefs about radiation and their opinions about nuclear power. Correlation between the proximity to a nuclear facility and beliefs about radiation is found. Gender and occupation are not revealed as statistically influential. In addition, the analyses suggest that respondents' perceptions of radiological risk are significantly associated with perception of and support for nuclear power. Even though most respondents supported inland nuclear power plants, fear of radiation is likely to result in a more serious NIMBY syndrome. Most respondents overstated the effect of low-dose radiation, worried about a negative impact of radioactive materials released from a nuclear power plant, and wanted to know more about radiation protection and emergency procedures. It implies that many nuclear issues were driven by fear of radiation, and perception of radiological risk appears a critical factor to mitigate worries and implement radiation protection and emergency procedures.

Applying risk tolerance and socio-technical dynamics for more realistic energy transition pathways

Many energy systems models have sought to develop pathways for deep decarbonization of the global energy system. Most often, these pathways minimize system costs or greenhouse gas emissions; with few exceptions, they ignore the constraints imposed by political, social, and economic factors that slow transition processes, making them prone to producing implausible decarbonization pathways. This paper integrates a key socio-technical factor—social acceptance of low-carbon nuclear power—into an energy systems model to illustrate how it alters the optimal energy generation mix. The United States was chosen as the example, but the approach itself is designed to be general and applicable to any region of interest. An empirically grounded risk tolerance model is developed to characterize acceptance of nuclear power and estimate an upper-bound deployment limit for the technology. Illustrative scenarios are presented to improve our understanding of how the socio-technical constraints that exist in the real world can alter deep decarbonization pathways. The cost-optimal generation portfolio to achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050 primarily relies on nuclear power. If risk tolerance concerns constrain nuclear deployment to socially acceptable levels, deep decarbonization scenarios are up to 11% more expensive than the reference scenario and require low-carbon options to be available and replace the reduced nuclear share. Results from this novel framework improve our representation of the effect of social acceptance on the adoption and diffusion of energy technologies. They also contribute to a growing literature that seeks to firmly embed the social sciences in climate and energy policy.

Which is more effective in China? How communication tools influence public acceptance of nuclear power energy

Although various studies have investigated public acceptance of nuclear power development, they have failed to discuss the effectiveness of different communication tools adopted by local governments and companies to gain public support, let alone whether their effectiveness varies from person to person according to his or her knowledge level. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of different communication tools (i.e., scientific education, station visiting, community building, and national strategy advertising) adopted in the nuclear deployment practice in China and to investigate their interactions with people's knowledge level in the formation of public acceptance. Based on a sample of 322 valid questionnaires in Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province, we found that emphasizing nuclear development as national strategy is the most powerful instrument for enhancing acceptance of nuclear power by residents with both high and low knowledge levels, but it is more effective for those who have less knowledge. A communication tool of scientific education is more useful to residents with more knowledge, whereas trust-building tools function well for those with less knowledge. The results imply that policy makers should design various tools targeted at different groups of residents based on their knowledge level and decision-making process.

정치적 성향이 원자력 발전 수용성에 대해 미치는 영향: 2016년 KGSS 자료를 중심으로

정치적 성향이 원자력 발전 수용성에 대해 미치는 영향: 2016년 KGSS 자료를 중심으로

What affects college students’ acceptance of nuclear energy? Evidence from China

With the increasing environmental pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in recent years, the importance of nuclear energy (an important non-fossil energy) to China’s sustainable development has been growing. The public acceptance of nuclear power would directly affect China’s promotion of nuclear energy. Because college students play an important role in the social development, their acceptance of nuclear energy would to a great extent represent and affect the public attitude. Thus, their acceptance of nuclear power would influence the prevalence of nuclear energy and guide China’s efforts to improve the energy mix by reducing the reliance on fossil energy. As such, it is necessary to understand the factors influencing college students’ acceptance of nuclear energy. In this study, using the latest survey data collected via a questionnaire survey of college students in China’s capital city of Beijing, a carefully designed structural equation model is employed to identify and investigate the most important factors influencing college students’ acceptance of nuclear energy. Estimation results from partial least-squares analysis indicate that safety perception, perceived benefits, environmental awareness, social trust and perceived nuclear knowledge have significant positive impacts on the acceptance of nuclear power. Moreover, there is evidence that the proximity of nuclear power plants has a significant negative impact on the acceptance.

Government communication effectiveness on local acceptance of nuclear power: Evidence from China

Previous studies on the elements that affect the acceptance of nuclear power by a local populace have recognized the importance of government communication. However, we have discovered little research that has truly focused on how public acceptance of nuclear power is affected by government communication. In this study, we examined the effects of government communication on local acceptance of nuclear power by reviewing evidence from China. We focused on recent efforts by the Chinese government to improve its communication regarding the nuclear power industry through the reinitiation of its nuclear power production efforts and establishing an evaluation framework. Using survey data from three cities, we evaluated two government communication instruments: the popularization of science and the encouragement of public participation. The results revealed that encouraging public participation as a communication instrument was more effective in promoting public acceptance of nuclear power over a short period than popularizing the science using campaign-style enforcement. Open discussion not only encouraged the public to influence policy but also helped people realize their value as citizens, thereby further strengthening public acceptance of nuclear power.

Financial Feasibility and Social Acceptance for Reducing Nuclear Power Plants: A Contingent Valuation Study

Social acceptance of nuclear power has become a decisive factor in framing a sustainable energy policy. This study examines social acceptance for cancelling the construction of planned nuclear power plants (NPPs) and replacing them with other energy sources. The contingent valuation method (CVM) and cost–benefit analysis (CBA) are used to access the social acceptance and financial feasibility of such projects. Empirical analysis is based on the case of South Korea, where a similar policy is in progress under the new government. The CVM results show that a Korean household was willing to pay an additional KRW 1922.45/month (USD 1.80/month) for replacing seven 1-Gigawatt NPPs with other energy sources, which is about 3.5% of a household’s current electricity bill. The CBA suggests that the annual costs of replacing this amount of nuclear power capacity with renewables or liquefied natural gas is KRW 1291.40 billion (USD 1.21 billion) or KRW 1180.38 billion (USD 1.11 billion) larger than its benefits, which amounts to about 3% of total annual electricity generation costs in South Korea. As the additional costs of nuclear power replacement cannot be fully covered by the mean willingness-to-pay of the current acceptance level, moderate levels of social resistance are expected if all the additional costs are passed on to the end-users.

Differentiated effects of risk perception dimensions on nuclear power acceptance in South Korea

Perceptions of risk from nuclear power generation have received considerable attention as a significant determinant of public acceptance of nuclear power—a requirement to draw social and political support for nuclear power generation. However, the distinction between the dimensions of risk perception and the differentiated effects of such dimensions has been less explored. The present study demonstrates that two distinct dimensions of risk perception from nuclear plants—perceived intrinsic risk and extrinsic risk—reveal contrasting patterns of influence on the acceptance of nuclear power. Our results, using a sample from South Korea, show that the relative effect of perceived extrinsic risk from nuclear plants on the acceptance of nuclear power (compared to that of intrinsic risk) is stronger at higher levels of such acceptance than at lower levels. This finding provides implications for public policy to encourage the acceptance of nuclear power. Such policy should selectively choose between the two approaches—reducing the public's perceived level of intrinsic risk and that of extrinsic risk—depending on whether the policy's aims is to soften opposing voices or to promote positive voices for nuclear power.

The Effects on Perceived Risk, Confidence in the Government, and the Acceptance of Nuclear Power Caused by Knowledge to Nuclear Power: Focused on Local Residents Nearby Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant

The Effects on Perceived Risk, Confidence in the Government, and the Acceptance of Nuclear Power Caused by Knowledge to Nuclear Power: Focused on Local Residents Nearby Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant