Despite glitches, Swedes want to keep nuclear power, says survey

Stockholm - A majority of Swedes favour replacing the country's 10 current nuclear reactors when they become too old to operate, a survey published Friday said. In all 62 per cent supported building new reactors, while 28 per cent said they opposed building any new reactors. Ten per cent of the 1,016 polled were undecided. The Synovate poll was conducted February 5 to 11. The poll, commissioned by the Stockhom daily Dagens Nyheter, suggested that only two of the seven parties in parliament - the opposition Left Party and the Green Party - opposed building new reactors. A week ago, the ruling Swedish centre-right government announced it would revoke a 1980 referendum decision to phase out nuclear power, which accounts for about half of the country's electricity. The government said the debate about climate change and need to secure long-term energy production were factors that contributed to the re-think. The agreement was seen as a sizeable concession by the Centre Party that in the 1970s was an outspoken opponent of nuclear power - an issue that triggered the collapse of one non-socialist coalition government in that decade. The new poll suggested that a strong majority, 64 per cent, of Centre Party backers favoured building new reactors. The most pro-nuclear party was Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's conservative Moderate Party where eight of 10 supporters were in favour of building new reactors. The poll may also prove a headache for Mona Sahlin, leader of the opposition Social Democrats who is trying to forge a red-green coalition with the Left and Green parties. A majority, 57 per cent, of Social Democrats said they supported building new reactors. At its height, Sweden had 12 nuclear reactors in operation. But two reactors at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden have been decommissioned, most recently in May 2005.