August 5, 2012 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Improvements in reactor technology affecting both efficiency and safety, which are said to be making nuclear power generation safer than ever, are doing nothing to assuage public fears over nuclear energy. Research from GlobalData shows that nuclear is still a highly controversial source of power and public suspicions show no signs of stopping.

According to GlobalData, many countries are growing in the nuclear power market thanks to technologies such as the Generation IV (with an efficiency of between 40 to 50 percent) reactor and the European Pressurized Reactor (which mitigates situations resulting in a nuclear disaster, such as core meltdown, hydrogen accumulation -- which can lead to an explosion -- and the release of radiation from the containment building).

Despite these improvements, and reassuring results of stress tests at plants across the world following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, the global public sentiment is still "vehemently anti-nuclear," according to GlobalData. Many other countries, like Japan, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, have experienced "extreme public resistance" to nuclear power. Germany, Belgium and Switzerland have opted to completely end nuclear production by 2034.

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