Washington (Platts)--25Apr2008

Fifty-nine percent of Americans said the US should "definitely" build
more nuclear power plants, according to a survey released April 25 by the
Nuclear Energy Institute.
The percentage of respondents who "strongly" or "somewhat" agreed that
more reactors should "definitely" be built was about the same, at 29% and 30%,
respectively, the survey said. Also, 63% favor the use of nuclear power to
provide electricity in the US, while 33% are opposed, it said. The survey
ranked nuclear energy fifth (53%) among the sources of electricity that survey
participants expected to be used most in the US 15 years from now. Solar
energy was first, with 72%, followed by wind (65%), natural gas (59%), and
hydro (54%). Oil was sixth, with 46%, and coal seventh with 40%. Seventy-nine
percent supports the use of federal incentives, such as tax credits, to
promote the development of carbon-free energy technologies, including nuclear,
NEI said. Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed support federal loan
guarantees for companies that build solar, wind or new nuclear power plants
"or other energy technology that reduces greenhouse gases to jump-start
investment in these critical energy facilities," NEI said. The telephone
survey of 1,000 adults was conducted April 10-13 by Bisconti Research Inc.
with Gfk NOP and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage
points, NEI said.