A more nuclear-friendly public in Sweden

During the past year, the acceptance for nuclear power has increased among the public in Sweden. In a survey conducted in June 2008, 40 % said they want to continue using nuclear power and, if necessary, build new reactors. It’s an increase of 9 percentage points in one year. A further 42 % want to continue to use nuclear power, however not build new reactors. 15 % think that nuclear power should be decommissioned through political decisions.

Young people have become more positive towards nuclear power, which means that the age difference in the public opinion to nuclear power has levelled out.

Clearer political polarization
During the past six months, there has been a polarization in the nuclear issue between the political parties’ constituents. Supporters of the Green party and the Left Wing party have become significantly more negative to nuclear power while the supporters of the Liberal party and the Conservatives have become more positive. The main change has been among the supporters of the Liberal party.

At the same time, among the supporters of the middle parties and the Social Democrats it seems to be a clearer set of attitudes saying that we should continue to use nuclear power without necessarily build new reactors.

The future of nuclear power
The experience of nuclear energy’s environmental impact today means more to the public opinion than safety. Many believe Swedish nuclear power plants to be safe. At the same time, 7 out of 10 believe that the Swedish nuclear power plants have little impact on the environment. They rate the environmental impact in the range of 1–5 on a 10-point grading scale.

Here, there is a clear connection with the attitude to the future of nuclear energy. 72 % among those who believe that nuclear power has a small impact on the environment think that we should continue to use nuclear power and, if necessary, build new reactors. Only 22 % among those who believe that nuclear power has a very high impact on the environment agree to this.

The experience of nuclear energy’s impact on the environment today has greater significance for the environmental opinion than nuclear safety.

The survey
The market research agency Synovate has conducted this survey on behalf of the Analysis Group at The Nucear Training and Safety Center (Kärnkraftsäkerhet och Utbildning AB).

The target audience is the Swedish public at the age of 16 years and older. A total of 1 019 telephone interviews were conducted during the period of 2nd to 4th of July 2008. The report also presents comparisons with previous surveys.