Europeans Support Cutting Down on Financing of Nuclear Energy Sector - Survey Results

KYIV, Ukraine, April 5, 2011 - Europeans supported cutting down investments into nuclear energy,
according to the results of a survey conducted by Benenson Strategy Group
together with First International Resourcesin late Feb. through the first
half of March, 2011. The relevance of the survey on prospect of nuclear
energy is increasing due to the recent developments at Japan's Fukushima-1
nuclear power plant and forthcoming 25th anniversary of Chornobyl disaster.

The survey has revealed that even before the earthquake in Japan, the
majority of European respondents of the survey conducted in sevencountries
(France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Great Britain, and Ukraine) would
not favor further investments into nuclear power sector. Thus, only 12
percent of German respondents supported the increase of investments into
nuclear sector, whereas 70 percent opposed it. On the other hand, the
majority of Ukrainian respondents (Ukraine was a site of Chornobyl accident
in 1986. - Ed.)supported the increase of investments into nuclear energy - 35
to 18 percent of respondents.

At the same time, about half of respondents agreed, that investing into
nuclear energy sector would promote their economies. On the other hand, the
question about how investments into nuclear energy will influence the
accessibility to electric energy almost equally divided the respondents'
opinion. The survey also demonstrated the most recognized advantages of the
nuclear energy - it is anenvironmentally friendly and cheap energy source.

In Ukraine the survey has been conducted in the form of individual
interviews among 1021 adult respondents (over 18 years old). In Europe the
survey was conducted among 500 respondents from each country who shared their
opinion in "face-to-face" and telephone interviews. The survey represents
plus or minus 4 percent margin error at a 95 percent confidence level. Almost
all of the respondents were questioned before the accident in Japan.

To honor the 25th anniversary since Chornobyl disasterthe Ukrainian
government plans to hold an international conference on April 20-22. Earlier
Ukraine stated that it hopes to attract new donors to invest into
construction of the new containment structure over Chornobyl's 4th reactor.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EBRD President Thomas Mirow, and
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have confirmed their
intention to participate in the conference.

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For more information, please contact Maryna Khorunzha, +380443324784, news at wnu-ukraine.com, Project Manager at Worldwide News Ukraine