A majority of people in Finland, which is hosting one of the world's first new-generation nuclear power plants, want their country to stop building new atomic reactors, a poll showed Monday.
Fifty-one percent of respondents want Finland to stop after completing its latest-generation fifth reactor, which has been plagued by cost overruns and delays, according to the poll conducted for public broadcaster Y1e.
Some 35 percent of Finns were in favour of building more reactors, while 14 had no opinion, according to the Taloustutkimus survey of 1,000 people.
Delays to Finland's European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) have pushed its start date back from 2010 to at least 2012, causing friction between partner firms Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO), France's Areva and Germany's Siemens.
The Helsinki government is due to respond in the coming weeks to the applications by three utility groups — Fortum, TVO and Fennovoima — to build a further reactor each. The decision will also need approval by parliament.
A poll published last week suggested opposition to nuclear energy had risen in Finland, but that more than half of the Nordic country's people were still in favour of building more nuclear generation capacity.
Four years ago 62 percent were in favour of building more nuclear power plants and 33 percent were against it.
With national demand for electricity slashed by the economic slowdown, observers expect Helsinki to approve at most one of the three reactor projects.
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