SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
In First, Majority of Americans Now Oppose Nuclear Energy
Gallup poll comes as new campaign counters nuclear's "clean energy myth"
Mar 18, 2016
A majority of Americans--54 percent--oppose nuclear energy, a Gallup poll released Friday found.
It marks the first time a majority in the country has felt this way about nuclear energy providing electricity since Gallup began asking the question in 1994.
Forty-four percent said they are still in support of it.
The new results show a major shift from responses last year, when just 43 percent expressed opposition to nuclear energy and support stood at 51 percent.
Republican support, in particular, dropped steeply from 2015. Fifty-three percent now say they are in favor of nuclear energy, compared to 68 percent last year. Thirty-four percent of Democrats are in favor of nuclear energy, an 8-point drop from last year.
Even in 2012, the first time Gallup asked the question after the Fukushima disaster, 57 percent of Americans were still in favor of nuclear energy.
As to why to tide has turned, Gallup suggests it may be the result of lower gas prices, as they have coincided with low levels of worry about the nation's energy situation.
Gallups conducted the new poll of 1,019 adults nationwide from March 2 to 6, 2016, It has 4 percent margin of error.
The poll comes a week after the five-year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, when said Cindy Folkers, radiation and health specialist at the advocacy organization Beyond Nuclear warned, "Not only is there no Plan B for what to do if and when a Fukushima-style disaster happens in the U.S., there is no Plan A to prevent one either."
And this week, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) launched their #NuclearIsDirty campaign, which aims to counter the myth of nuclear power as "clean."
Explaining the need for the campaign, NIRS Executive Director Tim Judson wrote Tuesday:
You can't build a "bridge" to clean energy on top of radioactive waste. Nuclear power is too expensive and too slow to solve the climate crisis, but it is also too dirty and too dangerous to justify. If countries choose nuclear as a climate solution, they are also choosing to target communities for everything that goes along with it: uranium mining and milling, radioactive discharges and leaks, radioactive waste ... and of course, nuclear disasters. All of this adds up to mountains of long-lived and poisonous waste, leaching into groundwater; spilling into rivers, lakes and oceans; venting into the air; contaminating the land; and being ingested by humans, animals, and plants alike. That is the real story of nuclear power. And it has to be told.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A majority of Americans--54 percent--oppose nuclear energy, a Gallup poll released Friday found.
It marks the first time a majority in the country has felt this way about nuclear energy providing electricity since Gallup began asking the question in 1994.
Forty-four percent said they are still in support of it.
The new results show a major shift from responses last year, when just 43 percent expressed opposition to nuclear energy and support stood at 51 percent.
Republican support, in particular, dropped steeply from 2015. Fifty-three percent now say they are in favor of nuclear energy, compared to 68 percent last year. Thirty-four percent of Democrats are in favor of nuclear energy, an 8-point drop from last year.
Even in 2012, the first time Gallup asked the question after the Fukushima disaster, 57 percent of Americans were still in favor of nuclear energy.
As to why to tide has turned, Gallup suggests it may be the result of lower gas prices, as they have coincided with low levels of worry about the nation's energy situation.
Gallups conducted the new poll of 1,019 adults nationwide from March 2 to 6, 2016, It has 4 percent margin of error.
The poll comes a week after the five-year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, when said Cindy Folkers, radiation and health specialist at the advocacy organization Beyond Nuclear warned, "Not only is there no Plan B for what to do if and when a Fukushima-style disaster happens in the U.S., there is no Plan A to prevent one either."
And this week, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) launched their #NuclearIsDirty campaign, which aims to counter the myth of nuclear power as "clean."
Explaining the need for the campaign, NIRS Executive Director Tim Judson wrote Tuesday:
You can't build a "bridge" to clean energy on top of radioactive waste. Nuclear power is too expensive and too slow to solve the climate crisis, but it is also too dirty and too dangerous to justify. If countries choose nuclear as a climate solution, they are also choosing to target communities for everything that goes along with it: uranium mining and milling, radioactive discharges and leaks, radioactive waste ... and of course, nuclear disasters. All of this adds up to mountains of long-lived and poisonous waste, leaching into groundwater; spilling into rivers, lakes and oceans; venting into the air; contaminating the land; and being ingested by humans, animals, and plants alike. That is the real story of nuclear power. And it has to be told.
A majority of Americans--54 percent--oppose nuclear energy, a Gallup poll released Friday found.
It marks the first time a majority in the country has felt this way about nuclear energy providing electricity since Gallup began asking the question in 1994.
Forty-four percent said they are still in support of it.
The new results show a major shift from responses last year, when just 43 percent expressed opposition to nuclear energy and support stood at 51 percent.
Republican support, in particular, dropped steeply from 2015. Fifty-three percent now say they are in favor of nuclear energy, compared to 68 percent last year. Thirty-four percent of Democrats are in favor of nuclear energy, an 8-point drop from last year.
Even in 2012, the first time Gallup asked the question after the Fukushima disaster, 57 percent of Americans were still in favor of nuclear energy.
As to why to tide has turned, Gallup suggests it may be the result of lower gas prices, as they have coincided with low levels of worry about the nation's energy situation.
Gallups conducted the new poll of 1,019 adults nationwide from March 2 to 6, 2016, It has 4 percent margin of error.
The poll comes a week after the five-year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, when said Cindy Folkers, radiation and health specialist at the advocacy organization Beyond Nuclear warned, "Not only is there no Plan B for what to do if and when a Fukushima-style disaster happens in the U.S., there is no Plan A to prevent one either."
And this week, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) launched their #NuclearIsDirty campaign, which aims to counter the myth of nuclear power as "clean."
Explaining the need for the campaign, NIRS Executive Director Tim Judson wrote Tuesday:
You can't build a "bridge" to clean energy on top of radioactive waste. Nuclear power is too expensive and too slow to solve the climate crisis, but it is also too dirty and too dangerous to justify. If countries choose nuclear as a climate solution, they are also choosing to target communities for everything that goes along with it: uranium mining and milling, radioactive discharges and leaks, radioactive waste ... and of course, nuclear disasters. All of this adds up to mountains of long-lived and poisonous waste, leaching into groundwater; spilling into rivers, lakes and oceans; venting into the air; contaminating the land; and being ingested by humans, animals, and plants alike. That is the real story of nuclear power. And it has to be told.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.