Regarding the image of nuclear energy\u2014which was somewhat negative even prior to the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants\u2014the most commonly cited adjectives in the latest survey were \u201cdangerous\u201d (69.0%), \u201cunsettling\u201d (56.0%), and \u201ccomplicated\u201d (33.3%). In comparison with the previous survey, however, those choosing \u201cnot reliable\u201d fell from 30.2% to 21.8%, and those responding \u201cbad\u201d from 19.1% to 12.3%, while those answering \u201cnecessary\u201d increased from 17.9% to 24.3%.<\/p>\n
Based on that, it seems that the image of nuclear energy has shifted somewhat in the positive direction.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, when asked what they thought the energy sources of the future would be, the percentage of respondents answering \u201cnuclear power\u201d increased by 5.5 points.<\/p>\n
Additionally, when asked what methods of power generation they preferred for Japan, the respondents most frequently mentioned solar (77.1%), wind (64.8%) and hydro (56.0%). Those power sources retained their top positions, a result unchanged since before the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident.<\/p>\n
Even so, those selecting nuclear power increased from 5.5 points from the year before, rising from 11.8% to 17.3%, representing the highest level since the accident.<\/p>\n
Asked about the future use of nuclear power, the respondents were given five choices: (1) increase it, (2) maintain the pre-earthquake level, (3) continue it, but gradually reduce it to zero, (4) stop it immediately, and (5) don\u2019t know. The largest group chose the fourth option (\u201ccontinue it, but gradually reduce it to zero\u201d), at almost half of the respondents\u201448.4%\u2014a level maintained since FY14. An even 20% of all respondents chose the fifth option (\u201cdon\u2019t know\u201d), with 30% of all female respondents giving that answer.<\/p>\n
Based on that result, JAERO said that efforts were needed to increase opportunities for women to receive more information on nuclear power.<\/p>\n
Survey respondents were also asked about the restarting of NPPs. The ratio of those selecting \u201crestarting NPPs is necessary, considering a stable supply of electricity\u201d increased to 26.7%, up 8.1 points from the previous survey\u2019s 18.6%. Meanwhile, the percentage of those choosing \u201crestarting NPPs is not necessary, as electricity supplies are now sufficient\u201d fell 6.0 points, from 24.7% to 18.7%.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the support for restarting NPPs has gone up, while the opposition has gone down. Moreover, given that (a) there is no clear outlook for radioactive waste disposal and (b) the Fukushima Daiichi NPPs are being decommissioned, the high ratios against restarting or those citing \u201cdon\u2019t know\u201d were probably due to those reasons. Generally, however, the positive answers climbed somewhat.<\/p>\n
Regarding the apparently improved image of nuclear power\u2014the positive shift noted above\u2014JAERO said that a major power failure had occurred on the island of Hokkaido one month before the survey, caused by the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake of September 16, 2018, and that people\u2019s awareness of supply-stability issues was probably heightened at that time.<\/p>\n
It warned, however, that the improvement in image could thus be only temporary, and that related developments should be carefully watched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Regarding the image of nuclear energy\u2014which was somewhat negative even prior to the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants\u2014the most commonly cited adjectives in the latest survey were \u201cdangerous\u201d (69.0%), \u201cunsettling\u201d (56.0%), and \u201ccomplicated\u201d (33.3%). In comparison with the previous survey, however, those choosing \u201cnot reliable\u201d fell from 30.2% to 21.8%, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[323],"class_list":["post-3880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-survey"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3881,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880\/revisions\/3881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}