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

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.