Survey: 71% of Czechs support nuclear energy development, support is growing

Support for nuclear energy in Czechia is growing. Seventy-one percent of residents support its development, around two percentage points more than a year ago. More than half of the population consider a combination of nuclear energy and renewable energy sources to be the most suitable energy solution for the Czech Republic. This is according to a survey by IBRS.

Support for the development of nuclear energy in Czech society is approaching its historic high, recorded in 2022, when 72 percent of respondents expressed support. According to the latest survey results, a growing share of the public sees the benefits of combining nuclear energy with renewable sources.

“Nuclear energy and renewables are not seen as competing alternatives, but as complementary pillars of a modern and clean energy system,” said IBRS managing director Miloš Rybáček.

The survey also focused on other issues related to the development of nuclear energy in Czechia. For example, 41 percent of respondents were aware that South Korea’s KHNP had won the tender to build new units at Dukovany, with most of them viewing the choice positively.

The results also show a gradual decline in public concerns about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the Czech energy situation. More than half (59 percent) of respondents still believe that the war affects Czech energy self-sufficiency, but this is a six-percentage-point decrease from this spring.

Nuclear energy, together with renewable sources, is expected to become a mainstay of the domestic energy mix in the future. The state is currently planning to build two new reactors at Dukovany, to be constructed by KHNP. The first of the new reactors is expected to be completed in 2036. At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred option of building two reactors is 400 billion crowns. In addition, the state will negotiate an option for two more units at Temelín. Alongside conventional units, small modular reactors are also expected to be built in Czechia in the next decade.

IBRS has been conducting its survey on support for nuclear energy over the long term, each time with a sample of 500 respondents. The latest round was conducted in November.