February 24, 2014. 67% of Sverdlovsk Region residents generally approve of using nuclear energy for the production of electric power, Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Station’s press service says based on the findings of a sociological survey conducted by an independent business research agency Remarket in late 2013.

400 residents of several towns and cities in Sverdlovsk Region were surveyed; the respondents’ sample frame reflected the local population’s socio-demographic profile.

According to the survey findings, 72% of respondents feel positive about the prospects of the Russian nuclear power stations. 41% of those surveyed supported the idea of its active development and 31% would like the industry to stay at the same level of development, while only 5% of those surveyed would like the nuclear energy to be given up on completely.

62% of respondents expressed a positive attitude towards Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Station, while only 8% said they felt negative about it. 73% of those surveyed said the most important factor was the station’s importance to the socioeconomic development of Sverdlovsk Region, and 64% of respondents believe the expansion of the facility with new Power Generating Unit 4 will have a positive impact on the local economy.

Deputy Director of Levada-Center Alexei Grazhdankin says such research findings, similar to those obtained in other Russian cities with operating nuclear power stations, indicate the population’s growing trust in the nuclear industry.

‘Any accident at a nuclear power station, especially the latest one in Fukushima in 2011, does undermine this trust to some extent. However, based on the research findings for 2013, the public opinion has gone back to the earlier assumptions about the nuclear industry. The population now sees nuclear energy as the energy future of its country and sees no other or better alternative to oil and natural gas,’ Grazhdankin added.