Environmental Perception and Public Attitudes toward Nuclear Energy

Abstract

The need for an energy transition from fossil fuel to cleaner energy sources has been widely recognized as climate change has increased the intensity of extreme weather events and posed a severe threat to human beings over time. As a result, many countries, including South Korea, have deliberately considered nuclear energy a safe and economical alternative to fossil fuels. Nevertheless, there has been a long-running debate about whether nuclear power is a clean and sustainable energy source. In this paper, we investigate whether individuals with a higher level of environmental perception and cognition are more likely to have less favorable attitudes toward nuclear energy. Specifically, utilizing 2021 Korean General Social Survey data, we construct the ‘environmental perception index’ by conducting a principal component analysis based on various questions about environmental issues and estimate its impacts on attitudes toward nuclear energy policy−stay the same/increase/decrease nuclear reactors−and on opinions about the safety of nuclear energy. We find evidence that respondents with a higher level of the ‘environmental perception index’ are more likely to support the policy to decommission nuclear facilities and be concerned about the safety of nuclear energy. Hence, additional analyses revealed that the effects of the environmental perception index are more evident for the non-partisan respondents, who may be less affected by the political discourses about nuclear energy. The findings of this paper have academic and policy implications by emphasizing the importance of environmental perceptions in evaluating energy policy.