40 years on from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Britons are divided on whether nuclear energy is safe

Key takeaways

  • Britons support the use of nuclear power by 51% to 29%, with opposition declining in recent years
  • Green voters are divided 46% to 39% on whether or not they support the use of nuclear power
  • 37% of Britons want more of the UK’s electricity to come from nuclear energy, compared to 23% who want less
  • Britons are divided 45% to 39% on whether or not nuclear energy is generally safe
  • Men are consistently far more supportive of nuclear power than women

This Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, when a Soviet nuclear reactor exploded, spreading radiation across Europe. The incident cast a long shadow, with substantial parts of present-day Belarus and Ukraine still cordoned off, as well as playing a major role in Italy and Germany’s decisions to phase out their nuclear power stations.

In Britain, though, nuclear power has remained in place, and in recent years has been the subject of renewed investment, with the government last week giving the green light to a new power station in Anglesey. But how do the public feel about nuclear energy?

Around half of Britons (51%) today generally support the use of nuclear power, relative to just 29% being opposed. Support has trended upwards in recent years, with the public having been near-split on the question as recently as 2021.

Approval of the use of nuclear power is higher among Reform UK and Conservative voters, 64-66% of whom support it, with Labour voters also in favour by a margin of 52% to 31%. Lib Dem and Green voters are more divided, with 46-48% generally supporting the use of nuclear power and 37-39% opposing it.

Beyond support for using nuclear power, nearly four in ten Britons (37%) believe the UK should actively be getting more of its energy from the source, with a further 23% feeling that the current level is about right; in 2025, nuclear power provided 12% of the UK’s electricity). This compares to just 23% who believe the UK should reduce the amount of electricity it gets from nuclear energy.

But on this question, nuclear power sits in something of a middle category. Although more of the public want a greater use of nuclear energy than want more use of the major fossil fuels (14-22%), nuclear has fewer enthusiasts than renewable energy sources.

A clear majority of Britons (55%) want the UK to get more of its energy from onshore wind, with 63% favouring more energy from bio-fuel and geothermal sources, 67% wanting more offshore wind or hydro-electric power, and 72-73% backing more electricity being generated through tidal and solar power.

Nonetheless, support for getting more power from nuclear energy has risen in recent years, with the current 14 point advantage for “more nuclear” over “less” a shift from the public being evenly split 30% to 33% on the question in 2024.

Additionally, relative to two years ago, more of the public are now open to getting more of the UK’s power from fossil fuel sources, although they are still outnumbered by those who want to reduce fossil fuel usage.

When asked to pick a single form of generation that they most want to see ramped up, nearly a quarter of Britons (23%) choose nuclear power.

While this puts it on a similar level to wind (24%) or solar power (21%) individually, overall 58% of Britons say that wind, solar or tidal energy is the form of power generation they support most for the UK’s future needs. Just 6% of Britons say the same of gas or coal.

A preference for nuclear power is most prevalent among Reform UK voters, 43% of whom say it is the source they support most for Britain’s future energy generation needs, compared to 29% who favour wind, solar or wave power and 15% who favour gas or coal.

Conservative voters are also disproportionately in favour of nuclear energy, with 33% saying it is their top choice of energy source, though this compares to 44% favouring one of the three main renewable energy sources.

Nuclear is less of a number one priority for Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters, just 13-18% of whom say it is the power source they would support the most going forward.

Do Britons think nuclear power is safe?

As the Chernobyl disaster demonstrated, nuclear power stations do have the potential to go very badly wrong. Nonetheless, the question of whether nuclear energy is inherently unsafe divides the British public, with nearly half (45%) believing nuclear energy is typically safe and 39% feeling it’s typically unsafe.

Even among 2024 Green voters, whose preferred party wants to phase-out nuclear energy, in part because of a belief it is “unsafe”, just 48% share the view that nuclear power is inherently dangerous, while 42% believe it is safe.

Men are much more supportive of nuclear power than women

A consistent finding across the questions polled is that men are much more supportive of nuclear energy than women. For instance, while men support the use of nuclear power by a huge margin of 74% to 16%, just 30% of women are in favour, while a greater 42% are opposed.

Men are also more than twice as likely than women to believe nuclear energy is safe (64% vs 28%) and that it produces low-to-no carbon emissions (68% vs 31%), as well as being more likely to support the construction of a nuclear power station in their local area (57% vs 22%).

Six in ten men (59%) believe the UK should get more of its energy from nuclear sources, compared to a mere 17% of women, with 39% of men saying it’s the form of energy generation they support most of all, compared to only 9% of women.

Overall, a majority of men (53%) believe that nuclear energy should have a major role in Britain’s electricity network, on a par with renewable sources, compared to just 21% of women.

Reform UK voters tend to be the most supportive about nuclear power

As previously mentioned, it is Reform UK voters who are typically the most positive about nuclear power, with the Greens and, in most cases, the Lib Dems tending to the least positive.

Larger divides emerge on whether the UK should get more of its energy from nuclear power (56% of Reform UK voters vs 28% of Greens) and whether voters support the construction of nuclear power stations in their local area (59% vs 31%).

The greatest agreement comes on perceptions of whether nuclear energy generation produces little to no carbon emissions, a view held by 58% of Reform UK voters and 46% of Green voters.

See the full results here

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