Daily news papers Kaleva, Turun Sanomat and a group of major Finnish provincial daily papers have carried out a poll which shows that the majority of the Finnish Parliament is in favor of constructing at least one new nuclear power plant. The favorite candidate for the constructor of the new plant is Fennovoima.
The Parliament will decide on the construction of new nuclear power on the basis of a proposal made by the government. In the poll, MP’s were inquired their position concerning new nuclear power, which company is their favorite and where the new plant should be built. Of 200 MP's 135 answered the inquiry and 83 of them were in favor of building more nuclear power.
Many MP's who have publicly supported new nuclear power did not answer the inquiry. According to the newspaper Kaleva, this means that the majority of the Parliament will support the proposition that the government will make. The paper predicts that the 18 MP's who did not participate the poll are apparently in favor of new nuclear power and at least 101 MP's support giving at least one licence.
37 MP's were against new nuclear power in the poll but if those who did not participate in the poll are included the number of opponents is bigger. 15 of those who participated did not yet have a stand.
Fennovoima most popular
Some 50 per cent of those who answered the inquiry gave their view on who should get the licence and where the new plant should be built. 37 of the participants would give the licence to Fennovoima. Of them, 14 would like the new plant to be built in Pyhäjoki and 7 favored Simo. Not all participants gave their opinion on the location. 21 MP's favored TVO and 15 supported Fortum.
Those who gave a view on the company question or those who favored giving more than just one licence included Fennovoima in their answer. In some answers, only TVO or Fortum was mentioned.
Most of the MP's of the Coalition Party support giving two or three licences. The Centre Party is generally in favor of one licence and most of the Social Democrats would give at least one licence although there were support for two or three licences, too. A couple of MP's of the Centre Party and Social Democrat Party were against new nuclear power.
Majority of the Left-wing Party MPs are against new nuclear power. Christian Democrats, The Swedish People's Party and True Finns Party are internally divided into supporters and opponents. None of the MPs of the Green Party would give a licence for a new nuclear plant.
