Poll: 71 percent in U.S. support nuclear power

A new poll commissioned by the nuclear industry shows that 71 percent of people in the United States support including nuclear power in the country’s energy portfolio.

The poll, commissioned by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), comes as President Obama has called for expanding the country’s reliance on nuclear power as part of a broad strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The president’s fiscal 2012 budget request set aside more than $800 million for nuclear energy research and tripled the amount of money authorized for nuclear loan guarantees.

About 71 percent of respondents said they support “the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States,” while 26 percent are opposed, NEI said.

At the same time, the poll shows broad public support for a proposal floated by Obama to get large amounts of the country’s electricity from low-carbon sources. The poll finds that 89 percent of Americans think, “We should take advantage of all low-carbon energy sources, including nuclear, hydro and renewable energy, to produce the electricity we need while limiting greenhouse gas emissions.”

Obama laid out a proposal in last month's State of the Union address to get 80 percent of the country’s electricity from low-carbon sources like nuclear, wind, solar and natural gas by 2035. Obama is working closely with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) to hash out the details of the proposal.

Meanwhile, 79 percent of Americans say they support the government providing loan guarantees for a range of low-carbon energy technologies like nuclear, wind and solar.

Obama’s 2012 budget request calls for adding $36 billion in loan guarantee authority for nuclear power plants. The proposal is already coming under fire from anti-nuclear activists, who argue that nuclear power plants are far too expensive to receive government support.