Attitudes towards nuclear power have been the most important stimulant and divide in the Finnish energy debate for a long time. It is the clearest factor in the realignment of the front lines in energy policy and stands behind all opinions one way or another. In practice, the other energy options 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 statement 'A fifth nuclear power plant should be built in Finland' has been included in all surveys 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 The form of this question will not be outdated until the fifth nuclear power plant has been completed.

The number of people in favour of the fifth nuclear power plant is now considerably greater (46%) than the number of people rejecting it (32%). The distribution is the same as in the previous year and very near to the distribution of the two surveys before that. The results for the preceding years mentioned above 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 survey before 2003 had shown a distribution indicating greater support for acceptance than for rejection. The last four results deviate visibly from the general trend in the time series [Figure 3.].

This is also illustrated in the differences in percentages of those who support and those who oppose the further construction of nuclear power. The present value +14 (which means that there are 14 percentage points more in favour than against) clearly deviates from the results in 1984-2002, as was the case with the three previous surveys. The closest results - the least negative ones - in this period were the distributions of 1997 (-8) and 2002 (-10) [Figure 4.].