The differences in attitudes towards a fifth nuclear power plant within the population are great, in the same way as previously. When studying the attitudes towards nuclear power and its further construction in general (basic results, see Chapter 1.) rather than the attitudes towards the fifth plant already under construction, the opposing opinions of men and women are an issue that clearly draws attention. The suggestion of further construction of nuclear power facilities receives considerably more support from men (58% in favour) than from women (24%) [Figure 5.]. A similar difference can be seen in the attitudes towards the fifth nuclear power plant. The construction decision was clearly more agreeable to men than to women (not included in the figure).

The difference between men and women has been great throughout the history of the survey. The time series illustrating this shows a persistent invariance. The distance between the attitudes of men and women has in practice remained constant for more than twenty years. When the support for nuclear power increases or decreases at the level of the entire population, the change can be seen almost equally among both men and women. As the follow-up studies have progressed, the attitudes of men and women have not moved closer to each other or drawn away from each other; each gender has, in a sense, operated at its own level¹. In the last two studies, a slight increase in reservation in the entire population can be seen among both men and women ² [Figure 6.].

The opinions seem to become somewhat more positive with age. This dependency on age can be seen in several surveys of the previous years. In the early years of the follow-up period and in the survey materials of about ten years ago, opinions regarding nuclear power were very scarcely tied to age.

The connection with the level of education has also changed to a certain degree over time. Although support for nuclear power still increases with the rise in the level of education, this dependency has been weaker in the surveys of several recent years than during the early part of the follow-up period. The weakening of the dependency may be partially explained by an increase in the support for nuclear power; social factors no longer determine a positive attitude to such a significant degree. An issue to be taken into account in long-term studies is the factual change in the population structure. The level of education among Finns has clearly increased in the past twenty-five years. Nevertheless, the connection with education level is a gender-related phenomenon: with men, positive attitudes towards nuclear power strongly increase along with a rise in their level of education, whereas women's opinions on nuclear power are almost fully independent of their level of education (not included in the figure).

The occupational and social groups with the most positive attitudes towards nuclear power are administrative employees in leadership positions, senior clerical employees, entrepreneurs and pensioners. Politically, the supporters of the National Coalition Party (72%) are distinctly more positive about nuclear power than the supporters of the other parties. The idea currently has an above-average acceptance among the supporters of the Social Democratic Party as well. As in past surveys, the supporters of the Green party are the most unenthusiastic about nuclear power. As a supplementary detail, not in the figure, one can mention that the Swedish-speaking population is slightly more anti-nuclear power than the Finnish-speaking population.

The population of the municipalities in which nuclear power plants are already located are more positive about nuclear power than people elsewhere in the country - similar to the previous results. Supporters of a fifth nuclear power plant constitute a significant majority in both Loviisa (59%) and Eurajoki (60%). Compared with the previous survey, the figures of the residents of Loviisa have remained quite the same, the figures of the residents of Eurajoki have become somewhat more positive. Statistical factors must naturally be kept in mind when assessing the municipality-specific (as other sub-group-specific) results: figures calculated from relatively small groups of respondents must always be taken with a pinch of salt.