The proportion of people opposed to nuclear power plants has fallen to a third, while the number of supporters has more than doubled in ten years in the European Union. The most pro-nuclear Member State is Hungary, where 75% support the technology, 22% accept it, and only 3% oppose it.

The ideology-driven energy policies of radical green parties are increasingly disappearing from European public opinion, replaced by more rational considerations. The past ten years, with growing climate protection ambitions, the energy crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war, have shown that nuclear energy is an essential part of a secure, affordable and low-emission energy mix. This pragmatic conclusion is becoming increasingly apparent not only in the opinions of professional organisations, but also among European citizens.

Századvég’s Project Europe survey reveals that the EU population’s attitude towards nuclear energy has changed significantly over the past decade. While in 2016, 45% of respondents opposed the technology and 17% supported it, by 2026, the ratios had almost reversed, to 15% and 37%, respectively. Interestingly, this shift can only be partly explained by the energy crisis and the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war, as the trend had already begun earlier.

Although attitudes toward nuclear energy improved in all EU Member States during the period under review, there are still significant differences between countries, influenced by the role of the technology in the local energy mix and the development of political debates. The highest levels of support, exceeding 50%, are found in Hungary (75%) and the Czech Republic (56%), Bulgaria (55%) and France (51%). Nuclear-based energy production accounts for at least one-third of the electricity mix in all four countries, and anti-nuclear movements have not been able to achieve any breakthroughs in any of them.

In contrast, the highest proportion (43%) who reject this form of energy production are in Austria, where a nuclear power plant was built but never commissioned following a referendum in 1978. Furthermore, the proportion of opponents only reaches 30% in countries (Cyprus, Malta, Ireland, Greece, and Portugal) where there are no nuclear facilities in operation. However, it is telling that since the 2016 survey, the proportion of those rejecting the technology has fallen by almost half even in Austria: from 78% to 43%.

Changes in social attitudes have also led to political changes in several countries. For example, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden wanted to phase out their operating power plants a few years ago, but now they are planning to launch new investments or extend the operating life of existing units. Spain is still sticking to its decommissioning plan, but it is becoming increasingly unstable, especially after the major power outage in 2025. Italy shut down its facilities decades ago, but is now planning to build new ones, while in Germany there are increasing calls to restart recently closed reactors or build new ones.

The Project Europe research

In the first half of 2016, the Századvég Foundation conducted a public opinion survey covering the 28 Member States of the European Union to examine the views of European citizens on the issues that most affect the future of the Union. The Project28 public opinion survey was the most extensive ever, with a unique survey of 1,000 randomly selected adults per country, totalling 28,000. The main objectives of the survey were to gauge public sense of prosperity and to explore public attitudes towards the performance of the European Union, the migration crisis and rising terrorism. Following the surveys of 2017, 2018 and 2019, the Századvég Foundation, on behalf of the Hungarian government, continued the research since 2020 under the name Project Europe, which continued to reflect on the most dominant topics in European political and public discourse. The latest data collection took place between 16 November 2025 and 17 January 2026., involving 30,000 respondents in 30 European countries, using the CATI method.

• Methodology

We measured public opinion on nuclear energy with the following question:

In your opinion, what percentage of your country’s energy consumption should be generated by nuclear power plants in your country?

The results in the communication refer to the proportion of respondents who expressed an opinion (i.e., they do not include those who were unable or unwilling to respond, or those who had not yet heard of the technology).

For easier interpretation, we created a “Supporters” category from the “Very much” and “A lot” response options, an “Acceptors” category from the “Not very much” and “A little” response options, and an “Opponents” category from the “None” response options.

The 2016 results are from the European Social Survey data published in 2017, and the rest are from Századvég’s Europe Project research.