Poll: Nuke waste still worrisome

Attitudes about nuclear power and the perceived risks of disposing highly radioactive waste haven't changed much in five years with only 28 percent of respondents in an MIT survey agreeing that nuclear waste could be stored safely into the distant future.

"Waste storage is a show-stopper for nuclear power," concludes the recent survey by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems.

The survey found that slightly less than two-thirds of the respondents, sampled from across the country, believe reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is a popular idea worth pursuing.

The survey explained that reprocessing is used in France, Japan and elsewhere and reduces the life span of most toxic wastes from 100,000 years to 1,000 years.

"Sixty percent of the sample said that they supported the expansion of the Department of Energy's reprocessing program, and half of the sample said they would support a significant expansion of nuclear energy in the United States if the country reprocessed its fuel," reads the 31-page report published in June.

Likewise, two-thirds of the respondents said they would support a significant expansion of nuclear power for generating electricity "if there were effective waste storage."

Only 19 percent thought that Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, should be used without further delays. "Another 25 percent would agree to its use 'only if the state of Nevada assents,' " states the report, titled "Public Attitudes Toward America's Energy Options."

"Waste storage poses a particularly thorny problem for nuclear power, as some of the most toxic products remain a threat to health for hundreds of thousands of years," wrote the report's author, Stephen Ansolabehere.

Conducted for the center by Knowledge Networks in February, the survey this year like in 2002 polled about 1,200 people across the United States.

As was the case five years ago, nuclear power drew the strongest opposition for construction of local energy facilities with 54 percent this year strongly opposing a nuclear power plant within 25 miles of their homes.

When asked to rate how harmful energy sources are to the environment, 54 percent of the respondents this year said the perceived harm from nuclear power was very harmful or moderately harmful.

In 2002, more of the respondents, 68 percent, felt that way about perceived harm from nuclear power.