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Most Swedes favour more nuclear power

TT/David Landes
TT/David Landes - [email protected]
Most Swedes favour more nuclear power

As energy policy talks between the government and opposition parties continue, a new poll shows that six of ten Swedes are in favour of building new nuclear power plants.

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A majority of supporters of all four of the centre-right governing Alliance parties, as well as a majority of Social Democratic voters, support the government’s recent reversal of the decades-old policy of phasing out nuclear power in the country.

The figures come from a new poll conducted by the Synovate polling firm and published on Friday in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.

Only among supports of the Green Party and the Left Party are a majority of voters against building new reactors.

Among Green supporters, 42 percent would support building new nuclear power facilities, while only 26 percent of Left Party supports in favour.

Meanwhile, 57 percent of Social Democratic voters supported replacing old reactors with new ones.

Among supporters of the governing parties, support for new nuclear power was highest among Moderate Party voters at 84 percent, while 77 percent of Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) supporters also favoured the move.

Supporters of the Centre Party, which has traditionally campaigned against nuclear power, favoured the government’s new nuclear stance with a majority of 64 percent, the lowest level of support among parties of the Alliance.

The poll results come the day after representatives from the opposition parties said that they wished to continue talks with the government about the future of Sweden’s energy policy.

Social Democratic spokesperson Thomas Eneroth is representing his party in the discussions because party leader Mona Sahlin is ill.

Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson appeared satisfied with the progress of the talks.

“There have good discussions and a good tone to the talks. We’ve been able to voice and discuss all the ingredients in the energy and climate agreement reached by the Alliance government,” Olofsson told the TT news agency on Thursday.

Olofsson is hopeful that both sides can reach consensus on the issue, adding that it would send a clear signal to the world that Sweden wants to be a leader in climate-friendly energy ahead of upcoming climate negotiations in Copenhagen.

The Synovate poll was conducted between Feburary 5-11 and included interviews with 1,016 people.

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