A majority of the world's people voted against nuclear energy and supported solar power, wind power, hydro-electric power and natural gas as sources of electricity, said a recent study.
The study, titled 'Global Citizens' Reaction to the Fukushima Nuclear Plant Disaster', conducted by UK research company Ipsos MORI Reputation Centre, shows that support for nuclear energy is far below that for solar power which is about 97 per cent, wind power which is 93 per cent, hydro-electric power which is 91 per cent and natural gas which is 80 per cent as sources of electricity.
The study, published on June 23 this year on the website of the organisation, said that only about 38 per cent of the world's people — mainly from India, Poland, Saudi Arabia and the USA — voted in favour of nuclear power plants.
An international sample of 18,787 adults, aged between 18 and 64 in the US and Canada and between 16 and 64 in all other countries, were interviewed in 24 countries around the world via the Ipsos online panel system between May 6 and May 21 this year.
The survey shows that three out of five global citizens, about 62 per cent, oppose the use of nuclear energy, while about a quarter, 26 per cent, have been horrified by the recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.
People from 24 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States, were interviewed by the surveyors.
The study also said that around four persons in ten, about 38 per cent, support 'modernization' of electricity production by nuclear power. The highest number of votes in favour of modernisation was in Russia (73 per cent) and in Japan (71 per cent).
The report also stated that about 80 per cent of the global citizens voted for boycotting at least one Japanese product, and among them the majority, about 56 per cent, blamed the Fukushima incident for the boycott.
Source : New Age
