Recent polling data reveals that Americans' confidence and support for nuclear energy is at an all-time high.
Bisconti Research reported that its polling data showed that nuclear energy is immensely popular among Americans, with 76% of people surveyed favoring nuclear power generation, while 24% opposed. That marks the highest level of support since the organization began conducting the annual survey in 1983.
Respondents who were “strongly opposed” accounted for 6% of the data, while 32% states they were “strongly (in) favor” of nuclear energy.
Additionally, the data showed that 83% of respondents thought that nuclear power would be essential in meeting the future energy needs of the country, with 40% stating that it was very important.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) stated that nuclear power consists of only a sliver of the country’s generation output. In spite of its popularity, nuclear plants accounted for roughly 20% of generation in 2020, which is on par with renewable sources, such as hydro, wind and solar.
“At the end of 2020, there were 94 operating reactors with a combined generation capacity of about 96,555 MW. From 2014 through 2018, annual nuclear generation capacity and electricity generation increased each year even as the number of operating reactors declined,” the EIA reported.
The increase in production, despite the lower number of reactors, was attributed to updates at the power plants that increased output levels.
Although a couple of new reactors are due to come online within the next year or so in Georgia, decreases in production capacity at other aging reactors are expected in the coming years. This is expected to result in a lower total capacity for the country in 2050 than there was in 2020.
