The research company "Elancom" presented the results of a large-scale sociological survey of the population of the regions where Russian NPPs are located (branches of Rosenergoatom, the Electric Power Division of the State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom").

Sociologists have studied the residents’ perception of the nuclear industry and their attitude to the activities of nearby nuclear power plants.

The survey was conducted in 10 regions of the country – in Voronezh, Kaliningrad, Kursk, Leningrad, Murmansk, Rostov, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Smolensk and Tver regions. In total, 10 thousand people from 60 Russian cities took part in it.

According to the company's report, the general attitude of residents to the development of nuclear energy is not homogeneous, but has a clear positive trend and can be characterized by a significant preponderance of positive over negative assessments.

In general, the results demonstrate that the population of the regions supports the development of the nuclear industry, and also recognizes its importance for the social and economic development of the region.

In most of the towns situated next to the nuclear power plants there is an increase in the number of positive opinions about the operation of the NPPs. In other cities, the values remained at the same level.

Over 77% of the surveyed population of the regions approves the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide our country with electricity. Among residents of the towns situated next to the nuclear power plants, this percentage is even higher - 90.65%.

A positive attitude towards a specific nearby plant was indicated by almost 70.5% of respondents from the regions where there are NPPs, as well as 87.32% of residents of the towns situated next to the nuclear power plants.

When considering the issue of future energy sources, residents, first of all, mention nuclear energy and alternative energy. This tandem has already become a classic over the entire period of analysis of social sentiment.

In the regions next to NPPs, among the prevailing answers to the question "What are your associations with the Russian nuclear power industry?" there were such options as "Effective replacement of oil and gas", "Safe and reliable source of energy", "A source that does not pollute the atmosphere and does not affect climate change" and others.

We can see the progressive growth of positive associations in comparison with previous years.

“The time of the research coincided with a difficult period for the population due to restriction measures caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Despite this, the degree of responsiveness of residents to participation in the survey was quite high. That is why I would like to express our gratitude to them for the fact that the study did take place,” said Anna Dvinskikh, project manager of Elancom.

Besides, of special note is that the results of the current study show the effectiveness of the plants' measures to work with the younger generation, which in their judgments give a detailed assessment of the activities of the nuclear industry. This is greatly facilitated by active work with young people, both within the framework of various communities, and in the course of career guidance counseling in educational institutions.