Title: Impact factors of public attitudes towards nuclear power development: a questionnaire survey in China

Authors: Bing Wang; Hao Yu; Yi-Ming Wei

Addresses: Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China ' Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China ' Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

Abstract: Fukushima nuclear accident gave an alarm to the security of nuclear plant. From the viewpoints of climate change, energy security and environmental values, this study investigates public attitudes towards nuclear power in China. The key point of this investigation is attitude analysis, which indicates that the attitudes towards nuclear power are complex and uncertain. Introducing "unconditional support" to measure public attitudes towards nuclear power, we found that environmental values and concern about energy security have positive correlations with unconditional support for nuclear power, unlike the negative correlation between concern about climate change and unconditional support for nuclear power. With the concept of "conditional support", it is significantly higher than unconditional support and concern about climate change turns out to be a positive predictor of conditional support. It suggests that when regarding nuclear power as a response to climate change or energy security, the public will support nuclear power development conditionally.

Keywords: nuclear power development; climate change; energy security; environmental values; attitude analysis; public attitudes; nuclear energy; China; conditional support; public support.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2013.055945

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2013 Vol.36 No.1, pp.61 - 79

Received: 19 Jul 2012
Accepted: 29 Apr 2013
Published online: 12 Jul 2014 *

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