Opinion surveys show that nuclear energy gets back on track

10 years after the Fukushima accident, nuclear power seems to come out of the cold. Several opinion polls converge on the fact that the public acceptance of nuclear energy gets stronger. The Odoxa opinion poll made in march 2021 shows balance between those that are favorable to nuclear energy (41%) and those that are opposed (41%) and in addition 18% have no opinions. When the question is less general about nuclear energy and turns on the production of electricity with nuclear energy, much less people are opposed to nuclear energy (30%). The key claim for those who are opposite to nuclear energy is much more the issue of the management of wastes (73%) than the nuclear accident (44%). Another puzzling result is that only 45% of the French know that nuclear energy does not release CO₂ while 38% think the opposite. (A.C.)