Comments on: CNN Poll: Over 75% of Americans want nuclear power right now

By: Luke McSweeney

Luke McSweeney — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:23:15 +0000

This post correctly labels this poll as unscientific, but not because it's a web poll. It's because it violates the random selection principle. CNN-Money viewers may well be far more likely than the general population to support nuclear power.

As such, the poll result itself doesn't really mean anything. On top of that, the first two options aren't mutually exclusive. I'm convinced it may mislead people into thinking public acceptance of nuclear power is much stronger than it really is.

The people outside the industry I've talked to generally express harsh skepticism towards nuclear power, although I've noticed a dropoff. The most frequent criticism relates to spent fuel and the concern that isotopes with very long half-lives will contaminate the planet (their phrasing, not mine) forever.

Public acceptance of nuclear power has a long way to go.

By: Jarret Adams

Jarret Adams — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:22:54 +0000

In a way, I agree with you. We do have a long way to go in informing the general public about the facts regarding nuclear energy. But, it appears that the more people know about it, the more support there is. Perhaps, we could suppose that CNN-Money viewers are more informed on this issue?

By: Jarret Adams

Jarret Adams — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:16:19 +0000

That is why we say that spent fuel is not spent. Of course, we support development of fast reactors that can “burn” materials that is now considered waste. But, these will take dacades to hit the market. Meanwhile, AREVA’s current recycling technology is safe, effective and can significantly reduce the volume of waste for disposal in the interim.

By: SteveK9

SteveK9 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:32:29 +0000

Instead of constantly pushing the idea of recycling (I know this is an important business for Areva), I wish you would give more emphasis to the fact that spent fuel is not waste, and that in the coming decades it will be ‘burned’ in fast neutron reactors, and that this will occur whether the fuel is recycled or not.

By: Luke McSweeney

Luke McSweeney — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:44:28 +0000

This post correctly labels this poll as unscientific, but not because it’s a web poll. It’s because it violates the random selection principle. CNN-Money viewers may well be far more likely than the general population to support nuclear power.

As such, the poll result itself doesn’t really mean anything. On top of that, the first two options aren’t mutually exclusive. I’m convinced it may mislead people into thinking public acceptance of nuclear power is much stronger than it really is.

The people outside the industry I’ve talked to generally express harsh skepticism towards nuclear power, although I’ve noticed a dropoff. The most frequent criticism relates to spent fuel and the concern that isotopes with very long half-lives will contaminate the planet (their phrasing, not mine) forever.

Public acceptance of nuclear power has a long way to go.