The Chernobyl disaster remains to be the greatest catastrophe of the XIX century.
MOSCOW, April 26, 2011. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data describing how Russians assess the Chernobyl disaster, and what consequences they think are the most threatening.
The level of anxiety of Russians about the power plants has sharply increased: today Russians think these facilities are the most threatening to ecology (59%, in previous years 29-39%). The importance of transportation and disposing of nuclear waste has considerably increased (from 29 to 40%). Russians also think the attention should be drawn to the deforestation (43%), followed by the problem of domestic waste which is seen as important again (from 27 to 38%).
The Chernobyl disaster is regarded to be the biggest man-made catastrophe of the XX century causing the gravest consequences (79%). Those who think so are mainly Muscovites and St.Petersburgians (84%), as well as residents of middle cities (83%) and 45-59-year-old Russians (83%). Eighteen percent of respondents consider that the consequences of the disaster were serious but no catastrophic as viewed before. Those who share this stance are residents of small cities (21%), 18-24-year-old (22%) and 35-44-year-old respondents (21%).
As before, Russians report that the most tragic consequence of the Chernobyl disaster is diseases and mortality increase caused by radioactive condemnation (74%). This is followed by the damage to nature (56%). Compared to these factors, the following consequences are regarded less important: loss of trust in the safety of nuclear technologies (14%), lack of support for disaster fighters (13%) suspension of nuclear energy development (4%). Other 14% think that the consequences of the disaster can be assessed only by future generations (in 2006 - 9%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on 9-10 April, 2011. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of errordoes not exceed 3.4%.
In your opinion, what is the most dangerous thing threatening the environment? | |||||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
Nuclear power stations | 29 | 31 | 19 | 21 | 59 |
Deforestation | 37 | 30 | 37 | 44 | 43 |
Transportation and disposing of nuclear waste | 39 | 36 | 28 | 29 | 40 |
Domestic waste, landfill, garbage | 41 | 31 | 51 | 27 | 38 |
Industrial enterprises (metallurgical, chemical plants) | 41 | 41 | 35 | 38 | 31 |
Transport (automobile, railroad, aviation) | 34 | 28 | 37 | 38 | 21 |
Oil and gas (and other minerals) extraction and refining | 11 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 10 |
Poaching | 7 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 8 |
Agricultural enterprises (fertilizers, animal burials et cet.) | 5 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
Military warehouses | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
Hydroelectric power plants, power stations | 6 | 6 | 3 | 18 | 5 |
Domestic appliances (refrigerators, et cet.) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
Hard to tell | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
How would you assess the Chernobyl disaster today? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||
| 2006 | 2011 |
It was the biggest man-made catastrophe of the XX century with the gravest consequences | 82 | 79 |
The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster were serious, but not so huge as they seemed to be 20-25 years ago | 15 | 18 |
Hard to tell | 4 | 3 |
Which consequences of the Chernobyl disaster do you think were the most serious? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||
| 2006 | 2011 |
Diseases and mortality increase due to radioactive condemnation | 77 | 74 |
Damage to nature and environment | 55 | 56 |
Loss of trust of people in the safety of nuclear technologies | 12 | 14 |
Lack of government support for the disaster fighters | 16 | 13 |
Suspension of nuclear power development | 4 | 4 |
Today the consequences are not clear; they will become apparent in the future | 9 | 14 |
Hard to tell | 2 | 2 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!