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Attitudes towards nuclear power have been the most important stimulant and watershed in the Finnish energy debate for a long time. It is the clearest element in the realignment of the front lines in energy policy and stands behind all opinions one way or another. In practice, the other energy alternatives and their pros and cons, as well as the development of the entire electricity generation system, are always assessed in relation to the nuclear power alternative. This deliberation took the form of open antithesis in Parliament’s decision on nuclear power and the debate leading up to it. 2.1. Further construction of nuclear power The study has followed the general attitudes but also specifically the attitudes towards further construction of nuclear power. The question asked in the form of a claim 'The fifth nuclear power plant should be built in Finland’ has been included in all measurements since 1984. The long duration of this energy political trench warfare is shown by the fact that this question has kept its relevance for more than twenty years. When the question was constructed, it was hardly thought that it would still be topical in the new millennium. The form of this question will not be outdated until the fifth nuclear power plant has been built. The number of people in favour of further construction is now considerably greater (46%) than the number of people rejecting it (32%). The distribution is noticeably more accepting than a year earlier and substantially the same as the peak value measured two years ago (2003). The last mentioned result represented the most sympathetic attitude towards nuclear power in the entire follow-up period and a clear differentiation from the previous sceptical attitude that held on for a long time. A larger shift in the time series happened only in 1986, when the Chernobyl accident resulted in a collapse in the rising positive attitude towards nuclear power in Finland. No single measurement before 2003 had shown a distribution indicating greater support for acceptance than for rejection. The three latest results deviate visibly from the general trend in the time series [Figure 3.]. This is illustrated when examining the differences in the percentages of those who support and those who oppose the further construction of nuclear power. The present value +15 (which means that there are 15 percentage points more in favour of than against) clearly deviates from the results in 1984–2002, as was the case with the two previous measurements. The closest results – the least negative ones – in this period were the distributions of 1997 (–8) and 2002 (–10) [Figure 4.].
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