The majority of Finns support building a sixth nuclear reactor.

[NNadir]

Finland has four operating reactors and a fifth under construction, a very modern EPR, a Gen III type reactor. Still Finland imports significant amounts of electricity, mostly from Russia.

Although the fifth reactor's construction is delayed by 9 months, a sixth reactor is increasingly popular, because Finland is actually committed to meeting it's Kyoto goals. (It is impossible to address the problem of global climate change without the use of nuclear power.)

A majority of Finns appear to support the construction of a sixth commercial nuclear reactor in Finland. Currently there are four reactors in operation, and a fifth is being built in Olkiliuoto, the location of two of the existing facilities.

According to a survey commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup, support for building more nuclear power has significantly increased during the past year.

A year ago, when Suomen Gallup conducted a survey on the possible construction of a sixth reactor, supporters numbered just 42 percent of those questioned.

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Sharp+rise+in+support+for+sixth+nuclear+reactor+in+past+year/1135219632750

What is really interesting is that reportedly the Finnish Green Party is dropping its opposition to this plant, at least according to this website.

Yesterday, speaker of parliament and former Social democrat pm Paavo Lipponen publicly voiced his support for another new reactor beyond Olkiluoto 3. Furthermore, the Green party who left government after the decision to build reactor five was taken, has recently said that they will accept being part of a government building the sixth reactor. If I was a betting man, I'd bet on the sixth reactor happening, and soon...

http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2006/4/29/104724/135

Generally in Europe and elsewhere Green parties are less interested in the environment than they are in reciting a particular kind of luddite mythology that is typical of a certain middle class (or upper class) outlook. It is interesting to see a Green Party somewhere that has adjusted its focus to include a realistic view of what is involved in global climate change.

A year ago no one was talking about a sixth Finnish reactor.

[tk2kewl]

1. Fire up the B1s

[phantom power]

2. It would be interesting to trace the souce(s) of the change in official positions.

Are these people all reading the E/E forum?
:evilgrin:

[NNadir]

3. The Finns have been considering this matter for some years.

They were discussing their long term energy security back in those happy days when Bill Clinton was President of the United States and when the United States was still a respected world citizen. No one thought of making a web site like Democratic Underground in that time, but still Finland was making many of the arguments made here, arguments that have not changed much. What is interesting is that Finland was actually considering the issue of climate change. It wasn't just signing the Kyoto protocol, but actually planning how to meet its demands. This contrasts in a profound way with most of the other Western countries, who signed the protocol under the assumption that it didn't actually involve making any realistic decisions.

The Finns commissioned a study of the matter and debated it in a rational way avoiding blinders:

http://www.nks.org/nordisk/aktuelt/seminarier/NKS_BKAB_NSFS_2001/Tapio_Saarenpaa_abstract.doc

The Finns are world leaders, apparently, in rationality.

Many other countries, of course, engaged in denial and wishful thinking, but I think the question is one that now demands attention whether we want to pay attention or not. The stakes and realities are now too difficult to avoid. Those who survive, if any survive, will be precisely those who draw the correct conclusions about nuclear energy, which is increasingly essential.