April 2024
Unbiased polls find that support for nuclear power in Australia falls short of a majority; that Australians support renewables to a far greater extent than nuclear power; that a majority do not want nuclear reactors built near where they live; and that most Australians are concerned about nuclear accidents and nuclear waste.
Here are the results from some polls in Australia over the past five years, with a decent sample size and questions that weren’t designed to push respondents in one direction or another:
* 2024 Resolve Political Monitor survey commissioned by the Nine newspapers: 36 percent support nuclear power, 23 percent opposed, 15 percent undecided, 27 percent “do not have a strong view, and would like to see the government investigate its use”.
* 2023 Freshwater Strategy Poll: 35 percent support nuclear power, 35 percent opposed, 18 percent neutral, 12 percent unsure. Thirty-seven percent agree that ‘Australia does not need to generate any energy from nuclear power’, 36 percent disagree, 27 percent neutral. Forty-four percent agree that Australia should remove the legal ban on nuclear power development, 29 percent disagree, 25 percent neutral.
* 2023 Essential poll: 50 percent support Australia developing nuclear power plants for the generation of electricity, 33 percent opposed, 18 percent unsure.
* 2023 Savanta study commissioned by the pro-nuclear Radiant Energy Group: 40 percent strongly support or tend to support using nuclear energy to generate electricity in Australia, 36 percent strongly oppose or tend to oppose, 17 percent neutral, 7 percent don’t know. The study found that those who are most climate-concerned are least likely to support the use of nuclear power. (Perhaps they are better educated on the issues and the options.)
* 2019 Essential poll: 44 percent support nuclear power, 40 percent opposed.
* 2019 Roy Morgan Poll: 45 percent support nuclear power, 40 percent opposed.
Nuclear supporters can take comfort that support for nuclear power exceeds opposition in most of those polls. But support doesn’t reach a majority in any of them.
Opposition to locally-built nuclear reactors
Opposition to locally-built nuclear power reactors has been clear and consistent for 20 years or more. Here are some recent poll results:
* 2023 AFR / Freshwater Strategy Poll: Around one-quarter of voters would tolerate a nuclear plant being built within 50 km of their home, while a majority (53 percent) would oppose it.
* 2022 Pure Profile poll: “Around 50 percent” of respondents in Australia, the US and Canada would feel “uncomfortable” if a new nuclear power station were built in their city. For the Australian respondents, 27 percent would feel “extremely uncomfortable”, 7 percent would feel “extremely at ease”.
* 2019 Essential poll: 28 percent “would be comfortable living close to a nuclear power plant”, 60 percent would not.
* 2019 Roy Morgan poll: 19 percent would agree to a nuclear power plant being built in their area, 58 percent would be opposed and a further 23 percent would be “anxious” (so 81 percent would be opposed or anxious).
Nuclear waste and accidents are major concerns
The September 2023 Freshwater Strategy Poll found that a majority of respondents (55 percent) agreed with the proposition ‘I am concerned that nuclear plants are unsafe and people will be harmed’ while 27 percent disagreed and 17 percent were neutral.
The 2023 Savanta poll found that 77 percent of respondents were concerned about nuclear waste management compared to 18 percent not concerned; and 77 percent were concerned about “health & safety (i.e. nuclear meltdowns, impact on people living nearby)” compared to 21 percent not concerned.
A November 2012 Essential poll found that 63 percent of respondents agreed that nuclear power isn’t worth it because of the need to manage radioactive waste, and 62 percent agreed that nuclear power is too risky because of the potential for serious accidents.
Younger voters
The Murdoch-Coalition echo-chamber was especially excited about younger poll respondents in the February Newspoll survey (65 percent support, 32 percent opposition). But the poll was biased and as Goot notes, other polls reach different conclusions:
“But eighteen- to thirty-four-year-olds as the age group most favourably disposed to nuclear power is not what Essential shows, not what Savanta shows, and not what RedBridge shows. “In October’s Essential poll, no more than 46 per cent of respondents aged eighteen to thirty-four supported “nuclear power plants” — the same proportion as those aged thirty-six to fifty-four but a smaller proportion than those aged fifty-five-plus (56 per cent); the proportion of “strong” supporters was actually lower among those aged eighteen to thirty-four than in either of the other age-groups.
“In the Savanta survey, those aged eighteen to thirty-four were the least likely to favour nuclear energy; only about 36 per cent were in favour, strongly or otherwise, not much more than half the number that Newspoll reported.
“And according to a report of the polling conducted in February by RedBridge, sourced to Tony Barry, a partner and former deputy state director of the Victorian Liberal Party, “[w]here there is support” for nuclear power “it is among only those who already vote Liberal or who are older than 65”.”
Renewables are far more popular than nuclear
Opinion polls clearly show that renewables are far more popular than nuclear power:
* December 2023 AFR / Freshwater Strategy Poll: 81 percent support for solar energy, onshore wind 57 percent, offshore wind 57 percent, gas 53 percent, hydrogen 48 percent, nuclear 35 percent, coal 33 percent.
* September 2023 AFR / Freshwater Strategy Poll: Solar energy is the most popular energy source (84 percent support, 6 percent opposed), onshore and offshore wind are next (61 and 58 percent support, 12 percent opposed), while nuclear (35 percent support, 35 percent opposed) and coal (33 percent support, 35 percent opposed) are the least popular. Among Coalition voters, there is more support for renewables (35 percent) than nuclear (32 percent) as the ‘best option for energy generation in Australia’. For Labor voters, 62 percent think renewables are the best option, 17 percent nuclear. For Greens voters, 78 percent renewables, 6 percent nuclear.
* 2023 Savanta poll: 56 percent of Australian respondents think the energy transition should focus on renewables (41 percent large-scale solar farms, 15 percent onshore wind farms), 23 percent think it should focus on nuclear power.
* 2023 Australia Institute survey: 27 percent included nuclear power in their top three preferences, behind solar 68 percent, wind 51 percent, hydro 39 percent and power storage 28 percent.