Finnish MPs lean towards more nuclear power - poll
Date: 19-Apr-02
Country: FINLAND
The poll by national broadcaster YLE showed 94 MPs in the 200-member house would back a proposal by Finnish industry to build a fifth nuclear reactor, while 88 were opposed.
But 17 were uncertain how they would vote when the proposal comes up for decision this spring, leaving the outcome of the vote in doubt. The plan announced last year goes against the non-nuclear trend seen in other West European countries.
Support was strongest among Conservative and Social Democrat MPs, the two main groups in the country's five-party coalition government, while there was clear opposition from the three smaller parties in the coalition.
Industry says more nuclear capacity is needed to meet growing electricity demand and enable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but opponents say the risks involved are too high and the question of nuclear waste disposal still unanswered.
Parliament is expected to vote on the issue by late May at the earliest.