Information and Support for Nuclear Power: A Randomized Survey Experiment

Last registered on November 19, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information and Support for Nuclear Power: A Randomized Survey Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016980
Initial registration date
November 17, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
November 19, 2025, 2:17 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Piia Remes
Affiliation
VATT
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-10-01
End date
2026-12-31
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
Nuclear, acceptability
JEL code(s)
C93, Q48, D72, D83
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
The goal of this research project is to evaluate whether short, factual information about small modular reactors (SMRs) shifts public acceptability of nuclear power. The intervention will be carried out in hybrid (online/paper) survey of adults in Finland. Half of respondents will be randomized into a treatment group that receives a brief information box explaining what SMRs are, how they would be sited and regulated in Finland, and key uncertainties around deployment and waste management (with references to STUK, TEM, and VTT). The other half will not receive the information.

The survey measures attitudes toward nuclear power and SMRs (including stated referendum choices and acceptance in one’s own municipality), perceived risks related to energy production, and broader views on energy, institutions, and decision making. We will compare average outcomes between the information and control groups to estimate the causal effect of the information on acceptance.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Remes, Piia. 2025. "Information and Support for Nuclear Power: A Randomized Survey Experiment ." AEA RCT Registry. November 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16980-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is embedded in a hybrid survey delivered to adults in Finland via (i) an invitation letter that includes a QR code and URL to an online questionnaire and (ii) a parallel paper questionnaire with identical wording and layout. Respondents are randomly assigned at the individual level to one of two arms:

Treatment (Information): respondents are shown a short, factual information box about small modular reactors (SMRs)—covering what SMRs are, Finnish use cases, regulatory context, and unresolved issues like waste management—immediately before key outcome questions.

Control (No information): respondents answer the same questionnaire without the SMR information box
Intervention Start Date
2025-10-03
Intervention End Date
2025-11-07

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Don’t-know (DK) on SMR acceptance (post) + change, Acceptance of SMRs (post 1–5) + change, Response certainty (post 0–10), Salience: “most important factor” (post).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
SMR referendum intention (post),
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We run a randomized information experiment embedded in a hybrid survey of adults in Finland. Sample members are invited by letter with a URL/QR code to the online questionnaire; a parallel paper questionnaire with harmonized wording is also available. Respondents are individually assigned with equal probability to: (i) a treatment arm that receives a short, factual information box about small modular reactors (SMRs) covering what SMRs are, prospective Finnish use cases (e.g., district heat), regulatory context, deployment uncertainty, and waste management or (ii) a control arm that receives the same questionnaire without the information box.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
3000 invitations in total (1500 treatment+1500 control) With expected response rate of 20-30 % - 300-800 observations
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
approximately 400 individuals in treatment group and 400 individuals in control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
See PAP
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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