Thirty years after the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant disaster, Russians are less skeptical about the development of the nuclear industry; their optimism is grounded on their confidence in the safety of modern nuclear power stations.

MOSCOW, April 26, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing the Russian attitudes toward the development of the nuclear industry; whether Russians are afraid of a nuclear disaster similar to the Chernobyl one

An overwhelming majority of Russians are bothered about the environmental situation. People express concerns about the pollution of reservoirs, seas and oceans (31% - this figure is doubled compared to 14% in 1990) and air pollution (27%); whereas radioactive contamination is seen less dangerous than it was twenty-six years ago (6% versus 30%).

Public opinion on nuclear energy development has dramatically changed over a quarter of a century: today the percentage of those who favor the development of nuclear power is 58% (28% of negative assessments) compared to 56% of those who opposed this idea in 1990 (12% of approvals). Those who appreciate this policy are mainly men (71%), metropolitan residents (68%), Russians aged 45-59 (63%); women (46%) and rural area residents (49%) are skeptical.

The heaviest consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear accident are health effects and high mortality rate (61%); most of Russians think that a new nuclear disaster is hardly possible (64%). This is due to that public confidence that modern nuclear power stations are safe  (73%); the share of those who think so is higher among people with high level of education (79%), residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg (83%), and young respondents (91% among 18-24-year-olds).

According to the Medialogia Company analysis of the 187000 publications about Chernobyl in the Russian mass media over five years, the most visible event is a huge fire that happened in 2015 close to the Chernobylskaya puscha factory complex. Apart from that, Chernobyl was mentioned in the framework of literature and cinema pieces as well as discussion of of payment of allowances to the nuclear accident liquidators.

The VCIOM survey was conducted on April 9-10, 2016, using a stratified dual-frame random sample involving respondents interviewed via landline and cell phones. The sample size is 1600 respondents; the sample is based on the list of telephone numbers operating in Russia.  The margin of error does not exceed 2.5% at the 95% confidence level. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.

Russian media monitoring and analysis were carried out by the Medialogia Company from January 2011 to April 2016, using approximately 31400 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, Information agencies and online media.

* In 1990, the representative Russian survey included urban and rural populations aged 16 and over; the sample size was 1514 of respondents.

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