Cautious support for N-power

Press, 25 March 1980, Page 8

Cautious support for N-power

(NZPA-Reuter Stockholm Swedes have voted for a limited expansion of their nuclear-energy, programme, according to referendum results yesterday. Some 58 per cent voted at the week-end for starting six new reactors, but no more, a result that could mean nuclear energy will end in Sweden after the 25-to-30 year lifespan of the new reactors. About 39 per cent voted to take Sweden’s six working reactors out of operation by 1990, and more than 3 per cent turned in blank ballots.

Sweden’s anti-nuclear Prime Minister (Mr Thorbjoern Faelldin) told a news conference after yesterday’s vote in a nucle-ar-energy referendum that he would abide by the will of the people, but also said that two of the four completed reactors must still be shown to meet safety regulations. He added that he did not think the other parties could ignore the almost 40 per cent vote against nuclear energy. He had earlier declared that safety considerations arising since last year’s reactor accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, which led to this referendum, could halt the starting of new reactors, whatever the result.

i The reactor at Three Mile ! Island has been closed since . a breakdown in the cooling system allowed contaminated ( gas to escape into the atmosphere a year ago. t Sweden gets more of its : electricity per capita from i reactors than any other • country in Europe and has i its own advanced nuclear inl dustry' competing on the ■ world market. A broad movement of Mr 1 Faelldin’s Centre Party, the ■ Communist Party, and envi- : ronmentalist, women’s, and 1 student groups had empha. sised the dangers of a nuclear accident and campaigned for developing solar, wind, and wave energy. Mr Faelldin’s partners in Sweden’s Centre-Right coalition Government, the Liberals and Conservatives, each backed different ballots for six more reactors, the Liberals adding a clause calling for public ownership of most power stations. A similar three-party coalition Government elected in 1976 fell in 1978 when:Mr Faelldin went against his partners’ nuclear expansion plans, and many commentators have predicted similar rows after the refen endum. Slightly more than 74 per cent of the 6.3 million electorate voted compared with 90 per cent in, last September’s General Election. .