According to an Elabe survey, the notion of a balanced "energy mix" between renewable and nuclear sources has gained traction in public opinion.
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| [Nuclear Energy Survey] |
According to an Elabe survey, the notion of a balanced "energy mix" between renewable and nuclear sources has gained traction in public opinion, indicating a rebalancing of the discussion. France should develop these two sources of supply at the same time, according to 52% of French citizens.
Is it better to become "all nuclear" or "all renewable"? These tenacious attitudes, which have long dominated France, appear to have had their day. While the atom was unexpectedly introduced into the presidential campaign, and Emmanuel Macron has been an outspoken supporter in recent months, the French are now in the majority to choose the solution of a "energy mix" walking on two legs, in a form of "at the same time."
According to an Elabe survey published on Thursday for "Les Echos," the Institute Montaigne, and Radio Classique, 52 percent of those polled agree that France should develop renewable energy as well as build new nuclear power plants to replace the aging ones. and renovate the ones that are already there.
Only ten percent of the population are staunch proponents of nuclear power, who want to stifle the growth of solar and wind power. On the other hand, the proposal of a progressive phase-out of nuclear power in favor of renewables, as advocated by Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has the support of 37% of the people.
Of course, political divisions remain on this issue: supporters of the presidential majority (67 percent) and the right (70 percent) favor a nuclear-renewable energy mix that is balanced, whereas supporters of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) (73 percent) and La France Rebelle (56 percent) prefer a completely renewable scenario. This scenario has a 55 percent approval rating on the left.
If the public discourse on the matter remains politically charged and dominated by the French, it has "de-ideologized," according to Bernard Sananès, president of Elabe. "We don't burn for each other," the analyst observes. "Public opinion has now absorbed a bit of pragmatism, and it is on a point of equilibrium," he says. In some ways, she chooses a middle ground. A perception that the executive will undoubtedly remember in the months ahead.
The RTE electrical network chief cautioned at the end of October that whichever energy strategy France chooses, it must be able to satisfy a rapid growth in electricity demand in the coming decades.
RTE assures that achieving carbon neutrality is "impossible" without significantly developing renewable energies, but that launching new EPR reactors is a cheaper way to achieve this in a large study that should serve as a basis for authorities to decide on the future of nuclear power and renewables.
Bernard Sananès raises the words that bring forward the beneficial characteristics of nuclear power "got again powerful" in an inaudible time. This is what the Covid crisis has done, bringing the topic of sovereignty back to the forefront of people's minds, an issue that has become "consensual," according to the pollster. As a result, according to an Elabe poll, 73 percent of French people believe that nuclear power ensures France's energy independence.
On the other hand, they are in the minority who believe it is safe (49%) or clean (44%) energy. Elabe observes that nuclear power's image has deteriorated over time, with 7 points deducted for its capacity to provide energy independence and 4 points deducted for its cost. On the other hand, it is improving in areas where it is weakest, such as safety (+4 points) and environmental effect (+7 points).
Renewable energy have a clear edge on these questions, with 79 percent of respondents rating them as safe and 74 percent as clean. However, they fail to persuade the French about their cost, with just 39% believing they are "affordable."
The study also showed a distinct generational gap on nuclear power's future. Nuclear energy is viewed as a "future energy" by 67 percent of those over 65, but just 44 percent of those under 35 do. In this question, however, people of all ages believe that renewable energies "have a future," with an average of 82 percent of French people believing so.