Nearly half of people in Finland, where a new generation nuclear reactor is being built, say the crisis in Japan has shaken their trust in nuclear power, a poll released Tuesday showed.
According to the Gallup poll published in the Helsingin Sanomat daily, the public's overall support for building more reactors fell five percentage points to 48 percent, when compared to a similar poll conducted in March 2010.
The paper also reported some 45 percent of Finns said their trust in nuclear power "has weakened due to Japan."
Nonetheless, the Gallup poll showed that despite increased concern about nuclear power in general, 85 percent of respondents still feel Finland's own reactors are perfectly safe.
The Nordic country has four nuclear reactors at two sites, with a fifth nuclear reactor, Areva's third generation European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), being built at power company TVO's Olkiluoto site in western Finland.
Last year the government granted two power companies permission to pursue plans for two additional reactors, although building permits have yet to be granted.
Similar polls conducted by Gallup for the paper show that support for nuclear power has fallen steadily since 2006, when 62 percent of the population supported investing more in nuclear power.
Gallup polled 2,281 people for Tuesday's survey, which was conducted in two parts between March 15-25, and includes a 2.5 percentage-point margin of error.
Prior to the polls on March 11, Japan was hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and devastating tsunami which knocked out cooling systems for the six reactors at the Fukushima plant, leading to suspected partial meltdowns in three of them.
The new EPR reactor, which had initially been scheduled for completion in April 2009, is now not expected to be ready until 2012, with normal operations anticipated to begin in the second half of 2013.
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