A new scientific survey of 800 Vermonters conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute (CSI) found that Vermonters want Vermont Yankee to be closed as scheduled. Based on polling that took place February 19-22nd immediately before the Vermont Senate vote took place, show deteriorating public support for Vermont Yankee.
Key findings in the survey are:
About two thirds (65 percent) say “reports about Vermont Yankee leaking radioactive tritium into testing wells and surrounding water” make them “more likely to support the 2012 closure of the reactor.” That includes 44 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Independents.
Overall, 71 percent of state residents are “less supportive now of Vermont Yankee, the nuclear reactor, than [they] were six months ago.” That includes 57 percent of Republicans, 82 percent of Democrats and two thirds of Independents.
Given a choice, fewer than one in 10 Vermont residents (9 percent) would ask their power company to use nuclear energy to power their homes, compared to 71 percent who selected “wind, solar and other clean-energy technologies.”
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