Continued strong support for nuclear power in Sweden
Support for the use of nuclear power in Sweden remains at a high level, according to a new opinion poll from Novus. Almost six out of ten, 59 percent, want to build new nuclear power if needed. Of the respondents, 25 percent want to continue using the existing reactors but not build new ones, while 9 percent want to close nuclear power through political decisions.
The opinion institute Novus conducts annual surveys of the Swedes’ attitude to the future use of nuclear power. The opinion polls are conducted on behalf of Analysgruppen, which is a network of experts and researchers from the energy industry and academia.
– Support for nuclear power has been very strong for several years. Over half of the respondents want to build new nuclear power if needed and over 80 percent support the continued use of current nuclear power, says Mattias Lantz, researcher at Uppsala University and chairman of Analysgruppen. In several European countries we see similar trends with increased support for nuclear power. The energy crisis that arose due to Russia’s war in Ukraine has contributed, but the trend started earlier than that, both in Sweden and in the countries where surveys have been repeated on several occasions.
As in earlier surveys, men are more positive than women when it comes to the use of nuclear power. 75 percent of the men want to continue using nuclear power and if necessary build more, 17 percent want to use the reactors we have today but not build any new ones, 4 percent want to phase out the reactors through political decisions, and 3 percent do not know what to answer. Among women, 42 percent want to expand nuclear power if needed, 33 percent want to use current reactors but not build any new ones, and 14 percent want to phase out nuclear power through political decisions. 11 percent of the women do not know what to answer.
A question was also asked whether the respondents believe that nuclear power can be a means to meet the climate goals. Here 59 percent answer ”yes, completely” or ”yes, to a large extent” to the question and 19 percent answer ”no, only to a small extent” or ”no, not at all”. When the same question was asked in Finland in April, 60 percent answered yes and 10 percent no.
– This question has been asked annually since 2019 to compare the Swedish public opinion with the one in Finland. The variations are small, says Mattias Lantz, with about 60 percent who answer yes to the question in both countries.
Also for this question there is a gender difference, with more men than women being positive to the use of nuclear power as a means to meet the climate goals, 71 percent of men answer yes compared to 47 percent of the women.
– Political opinion also affects the attitude to nuclear power in both questions, where people who support the ruling coalition in Sweden are more positive to the use of nuclear power than those who support the political parties that are in opposition, says Viktor Wemminger at Novus.
Analysgruppen has followed the Swedish public opinion regarding nuclear power since 1997. The opinion poll is conducted through web interviews in Novus’ randomly recruited Sweden panel. Since 2006, the first question and its answers have been formulated in the same way, while the second question has been asked since 2019. In the most recent survey, 1037 people aged 18-79 were interviewed. The survey period was 23-30 May 2024. The report from Novus with all questions and answers for the latest measurement, as well as the previous measurements, are available in Swedish on the website of Analysgruppen: analys.se
The Finnish opinion poll is carried out by Verian for the Finnish energy industry, and the results are available on their website.
Analysgruppen is an independent network financed by the Swedish nuclear power plants.
For more information, contact Mattias Lantz
Phone: +46(0)730 – 454 384
Email: info@analys.se
This press release is available as pdf here. For requests of further information about the opinion polls in English, please contact us. The results from the latest opinion poll is available in Swedish are found on this link. There is also an archive with the results from older polls.