Who has become more open to nuclear power because of climate change?

Even in the face of the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, nuclear power is being promoted in the U.S. as a necessary response to global climate change. Conducted prior to the Fukushima accident, the present study used a nation-wide telephone survey of 2751 U.S. residents to assess the factors that influence whether a person has become more open to nuclear power because of global climate change rather than supportive or opposed to nuclear power. Results showed that belief that climate change is a risk and is human-caused, belief that nuclear energy contributes to climate change, environmental support, cultural worldviews, and selected socio-demographics consistently predicted openness to nuclear power because of climate change. Implications of the current results and avenues for additional research on this topic are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]