Survey result: 2 out of 5 will introduce nuclear power in Denmark

Discussion about nuclear power or not has not heated up in Denmark.

If one asks the Danish population, two out of five - 40.7 percent - are either in agreement or strongly in agreement with the idea of introducing nuclear power in Denmark.

This is shown by a survey conducted by analysis institute Voxmeter for Ritzau.

25.8 percent are against, while 22.7 percent respond that they neither agree nor disagree. 10.8 percent respond "don't know."

The survey was conducted in the period 4th to 9th May among 1014 people over 18 years old.

The political discussion about nuclear power initially revolves around whether a 40-year-old ban on nuclear power in the Danish energy planning should be relaxed.

All bourgeois parties, along with the Moderates and Alternative, support nuclear power in one form or another.

A united blue opposition has called for a vote on lifting the ban.

And on the 6th of May, it was heard from the Social Democrats that they will have examined the possibilities and consequences of nuclear power in Denmark.

Troels Fage Hedegaard, who is a lecturer in political science at Aalborg University, where he also researches attitudes towards green transformation, sees it as an expression that some voters follow the parties' policy shifts.

- It's a somewhat technical issue that we don't have a lot of in-depth knowledge about, so when major parties don't outright reject it, it might open up for more to follow the parties and therefore become more positive towards nuclear power, it sounds like.

From the survey it appears that 57.8 percent believe that the possibility of introducing nuclear power in Denmark should be explored.

Troels Fage Hedegaard interprets it as a sign that fewer are sticking to an ideological rejection of nuclear power.

In addition, both the climate crisis and high energy prices play a role in the view of nuclear power as a possible energy source.

The statement that Denmark should invest more in wind and solar energy instead of nuclear power is agreed with by 48.3 percent.

18.3 percent disagree, while 28.5 percent are neither in agreement nor disagreement.

According to Troels Fage Hedegaard, "it's a kind of cat and mouse game."

- If one asks people to prioritize the two things against each other, most will say that we should hold on to solar and wind and see nuclear power as more of a supplement than an alternative. The question is whether it technically can be done.

Opposition to nuclear power grew particularly in 1986 with the Chernobyl disaster in the then Soviet Union.

42.4 percent declare themselves concerned about whether nuclear power poses too great a risk for environmental disasters in the survey.

34.2 percent are not concerned, while 17.5 percent respond neither in agreement nor disagreement.

/ritzau/

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