Nearly half of Swedes favour expanding Sweden's nuclear power stations, a poll showed Monday, despite plans to shut all of the Scandinavian country's 10 reactors over the next 20 years.
A record 48 percent of Swedes favour the construction of new nuclear power stations in the country, according to a Synovate Institute poll of 1,026 people conducted between January 14 and 17.
Thirty-nine percent of those questioned said they were opposed to further development of Sweden's nuclear power, the poll showed.
The Dagens Nyheter daily that published the survey pointed out that no more than 35 percent of Swedes had ever expressed interest in expanding the country's nuclear power in previous polls.
"The main explanation is that the question of climate change has over the past year become very important in Sweden, (and) nuclear power does not emit greenhouse gases," Arne Modig of the Synovate Institute told AFP.
Men were especially favourable to expanding Sweden's nuclear power, with 61 percent saying it was a good idea, compared to just 35 percent of women who said they were positive to the move, the poll showed.
The Scandinavian country has closed two of its original 12 nuclear reactors since 1999 as part of a plan to phase out nuclear power over the next 30 years, or when the reactors' lifespan expires.
Nuclear power accounts for nearly half of Sweden's electricity production.
