Last week, the Pew Research Center issued a report on popular support for nuclear power,
Support for expanding nuclear power is up in both parties since 2020
It’s not just up, but stands at 59 percent overall support, the highest number tracked by Pew going back at least a decade. Even a majority of Democrats (52 percent) support new nuclear.
Pew reports,
Americans remain more likely to favor expanding solar (77%) and wind power (68%) than nuclear power (59%). But while support for solar and wind power has declined by double digits since 2020 – largely driven by drops in Republican support – the share who favor nuclear power has grown by 16 percentage points since then.
Digging deeper into the Pew numbers, it appears that a majority of Republicans favor all forms of energy production (all-of-the-above strategy) except, perhaps, for wind power. The only forms favored by Democrats are wind, solar, and nuclear.
A new nuclear plant joined the nation’s fleet just last year in Georgia, one of the few added in recent decades.
Of course, Minnesota famously has outlawed the construction of any new nuclear power plants (Minnesota Statute 216B.243 Subd. 3b). So, any renaissance for the power source will skip over our state.