More than eight out of 10, or 84%, want to continue to use nuclear power or, if needed, build more reactors, while only one out of 10 want to close nuclear power “through political decisions”.
The March 2022 survey was carried out by Novus for Analysgruppen, a group of experts and researchers from the energy sector, industry and academy.
Analysgruppen said the 56% level of support is a “statistically significant” increase compared with 52% in February 2022 and 46% in November 2021.
According to the survey, 28% want to continue to use existing reactors, but not build new ones and 10% want the government to legislate to shut down reactors. Compared with earlier surveys there are more respondents now that have a definite opinion on nuclear power, with only 6% hesitant or saying they do not know how to respond.
“Support for the use of nuclear power is higher than ever,” said Mattias Lantz, researcher at Uppsala university and chairman of Analysgruppen. “The surveys do not tell is which individual factors affect opinions, but it is clear that more people see nuclear power as an important tool to counter several of today’s challenges.”
The survey also asked if nuclear power can be a tool for reaching the climate goals, and 67% said it can, an increase from 57% in May 2021. Eighteen percent do not see nuclear power as a tool that can contribute to climate goals.
Sweden has six commercial nuclear power units in operation at three sites: Forsmark, Oskarshamn and Ringhals. In 2020 they produced almost 30% of the country’s electricity.
