How do young people evaluate nuclear energy at nuclear power plant sites? An empirical study

How does the younger generation evaluate nuclear power at sites with nuclear power plants? This has been examined at four sites with different decommissioning stages, as the presence of a nuclear power plant in young people's daily life represents a potential employer as well as a potential risk factor. The attitude of this generation will expectedly and sustainably influence the development of communities. The decommissioning of a nuclear power plant is currently, optimistically estimated by different energy supplying companies with a time period of 15 to 20 year. Thus the resident population will deal with this topic until the year 2040. Furthermore the decision on a repository exploration has been sighted for the year 2013. As a final repository will not be ready for operation at that time, communities will have to deal with the storage of radioactive waste in local interim-storage facilities. The next generation has the opportunity to shape their future as well as the future of their community. Nevertheless the preconditions are to stay at the side as well as the political and social engagement of these young people. n order to study this aspect and the opportunities of action of young people, data was gathered by carrying out a standardised survey, interviewing 762 pupils in February 2014.