IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v133y2019ics0301421519304665.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tracking the nuclear ‘mood’ in the United States: Introducing a long term measure of public opinion about nuclear energy using aggregate survey data

Author

Listed:
  • Gupta, Kuhika
  • Nowlin, Matthew C.
  • Ripberger, Joseph T.
  • Jenkins-Smith, Hank C.
  • Silva, Carol L.

Abstract

This study uses aggregate polling data to develop and validate a new measure of public support for nuclear energy that allows for the identification of factors that influence the evolution of opinion over relatively long periods of time. In addition to focusing events, such as a significant accident, this new measure shows that energy security risk has consistently driven support for nuclear energy in the US. When oil, gas, and coal were relatively expensive and scarce, support for nuclear energy went up, and when they were relatively inexpensive and abundant, it fell. This finding adds important nuance to our understanding of public support for nuclear energy in the past, and the prospects for a new “nuclear renaissance” in the future1.

Suggested Citation

  • Gupta, Kuhika & Nowlin, Matthew C. & Ripberger, Joseph T. & Jenkins-Smith, Hank C. & Silva, Carol L., 2019. "Tracking the nuclear ‘mood’ in the United States: Introducing a long term measure of public opinion about nuclear energy using aggregate survey data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:133:y:2019:i:c:s0301421519304665
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.110888
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421519304665
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.110888?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Brulle & Jason Carmichael & J. Jenkins, 2012. "Shifting public opinion on climate change: an empirical assessment of factors influencing concern over climate change in the U.S., 2002–2010," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 169-188, September.
    2. Jones, Christopher R. & Eiser, J. Richard & Gamble, Tim R., 2012. "Assessing the impact of framing on the comparative favourability of nuclear power as an electricity generating option in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 451-465.
    3. Goodfellow, Martin J. & Williams, Hugo R. & Azapagic, Adisa, 2011. "Nuclear renaissance, public perception and design criteria: An exploratory review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6199-6210, October.
    4. Winzer, Christian, 2012. "Conceptualizing energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 36-48.
    5. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 1998. "Estimating and Testing Linear Models with Multiple Structural Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(1), pages 47-78, January.
    6. Devin Caughey & Christopher Warshaw, 2016. "The Dynamics of State Policy Liberalism, 1936–2014," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(4), pages 899-913, October.
    7. Månsson, André & Johansson, Bengt & Nilsson, Lars J., 2014. "Assessing energy security: An overview of commonly used methodologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-14.
    8. Kruyt, Bert & van Vuuren, D.P. & de Vries, H.J.M. & Groenenberg, H., 2009. "Indicators for energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2166-2181, June.
    9. Erik Voeten & Paul R. Brewer, 2006. "Public Opinion, the War in Iraq, and Presidential Accountability," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 50(6), pages 809-830, December.
    10. Narula, Kapil & Reddy, B. Sudhakara, 2015. "Three blind men and an elephant: The case of energy indices to measure energy security and energy sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 148-158.
    11. Poortinga, Wouter & Aoyagi, Midori & Pidgeon, Nick F., 2013. "Public perceptions of climate change and energy futures before and after the Fukushima accident: A comparison between Britain and Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1204-1211.
    12. Bielecki, J., 2002. "Energy security: is the wolf at the door?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 235-250.
    13. Greenberg, Michael, 2009. "Energy sources, public policy, and public preferences: Analysis of US national and site-specific data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3242-3249, August.
    14. Kim, Younghwan & Kim, Minki & Kim, Wonjoon, 2013. "Effect of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on global public acceptance of nuclear energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 822-828.
    15. Vivianne H. M. Visschers & Michael Siegrist, 2013. "How a Nuclear Power Plant Accident Influences Acceptance of Nuclear Power: Results of a Longitudinal Study Before and After the Fukushima Disaster," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(2), pages 333-347, February.
    16. Corner, Adam & Venables, Dan & Spence, Alexa & Poortinga, Wouter & Demski, Christina & Pidgeon, Nick, 2011. "Nuclear power, climate change and energy security: Exploring British public attitudes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4823-4833, September.
    17. Chester, Lynne, 2010. "Conceptualising energy security and making explicit its polysemic nature," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 887-895, February.
    18. Ang, B.W. & Choong, W.L. & Ng, T.S., 2015. "Energy security: Definitions, dimensions and indexes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1077-1093.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gupta, Kuhika & Ripberger, Joseph T. & Fox, Andrew S. & Jenkins-Smith, Hank C. & Silva, Carol L., 2021. "The future of nuclear energy in India: Evidence from a nationwide survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Florentina Paraschiv & Dima Mohamad, 2020. "The Nuclear Power Dilemma—Between Perception and Reality," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    3. J. R. Lovering & S. H. Baker & T. R. Allen, 2021. "Social License in the Deployment of Advanced Nuclear Technology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-13, July.
    4. Cotterman, Turner & Small, Mitchell J. & Wilson, Stephen & Abdulla, Ahmed & Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle, 2021. "Applying risk tolerance and socio-technical dynamics for more realistic energy transition pathways," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    5. Arndt, Christoph, 2023. "Climate change vs energy security? The conditional support for energy sources among Western Europeans," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Piotr Kosowski & Katarzyna Kosowska, 2021. "Valuation of Energy Security for Natural Gas—European Example," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Tomasz Rokicki & Aleksandra Perkowska, 2021. "Diversity and Changes in the Energy Balance in EU Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-19, February.
    3. John A. Paravantis, 2019. "Dimensions, Components and Metrics of Energy Security: Review and Synthesis," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 69(4), pages 38-52, October-D.
    4. Soni, Anmol, 2018. "Out of sight, out of mind? Investigating the longitudinal impact of the Fukushima nuclear accident on public opinion in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 169-175.
    5. Sergio Fuentes & Roberto Villafafila-Robles & Eduardo Lerner, 2020. "Composed Index for the Evaluation of the Energy Security of Power Systems: Application to the Case of Argentina," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Jacek Strojny & Anna Krakowiak-Bal & Jarosław Knaga & Piotr Kacorzyk, 2023. "Energy Security: A Conceptual Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-35, June.
    7. Valdés Lucas, Javier Noel & Escribano Francés, Gonzalo & San Martín González, Enrique, 2016. "Energy security and renewable energy deployment in the EU: Liaisons Dangereuses or Virtuous Circle?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1032-1046.
    8. Huang, Beijia & Zhang, Long & Ma, Linmao & Bai, Wuliyasu & Ren, Jingzheng, 2021. "Multi-criteria decision analysis of China’s energy security from 2008 to 2017 based on Fuzzy BWM-DEA-AR model and Malmquist Productivity Index," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    9. Evgeny Lisin & Wadim Strielkowski & Veronika Chernova & Alena Fomina, 2018. "Assessment of the Territorial Energy Security in the Context of Energy Systems Integration," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-14, November.
    10. Aurelia Rybak & Aleksandra Rybak & Jarosław Joostberens, 2023. "The Impact of Removing Coal from Poland’s Energy Mix on Selected Aspects of the Country’s Energy Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-13, February.
    11. Wang, Qiang & Zhou, Kan, 2017. "A framework for evaluating global national energy security," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 19-31.
    12. Wei, Na & Xie, Wen-Jie & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2022. "Robustness of the international oil trade network under targeted attacks to economies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    13. Mu Li & Li Li & Wadim Strielkowski, 2019. "The Impact of Urbanization and Industrialization on Energy Security: A Case Study of China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, June.
    14. Jasiūnas, Justinas & Lund, Peter D. & Mikkola, Jani, 2021. "Energy system resilience – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    15. Gasser, Patrick, 2020. "A review on energy security indices to compare country performances," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    16. Relva, Stefania Gomes & Silva, Vinícius Oliveira da & Gimenes, André Luiz Veiga & Udaeta, Miguel Edgar Morales & Ashworth, Peta & Peyerl, Drielli, 2021. "Enhancing developing countries’ transition to a low-carbon electricity sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    17. Ang, B.W. & Choong, W.L. & Ng, T.S., 2015. "Energy security: Definitions, dimensions and indexes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1077-1093.
    18. Franki, Vladimir & Višković, Alfredo, 2015. "Energy security, policy and technology in South East Europe: Presenting and applying an energy security index to Croatia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 494-507.
    19. Narula, Kapil & Reddy, B. Sudhakara, 2016. "A SES (sustainable energy security) index for developing countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 326-343.
    20. Elena Vechkinzova & Yelena Petrenko & Yana S. Matkovskaya & Gaukhar Koshebayeva, 2021. "The Dilemma of Long-Term Development of the Electric Power Industry in Kazakhstan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:133:y:2019:i:c:s0301421519304665. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.