Continued broad support for the Spent Fuel Repository

Support for the planned Final Repository for Spent Nuclear Fuel in Östhammar Municipality continues to be strong among municipal residents.

In a new opinion poll carried out by Novus, nearly eight out of ten state that they are in favour of the facility being built in Forsmark.

In Oskarshamn Municipality, eight out of ten are in favour of the construction of the encapsulation plant Clink.

– Of course it is nice that we continue to get this kind of positive feedback in the opinion polls. That the support for our future projects is so large is also an important factor in the continued licensing process, says SKB’s managing director Eva Halldén.

Every year Novus, on behalf of SKB, measures the public opinion in the municipalities that are affected by the plans for the future management of the Swedish spent nuclear fuel.

In this year’s poll, 79 percent of the respondents in Östhammar Municipality state that they are “completely in favour” or “in favour“ of SKB’s plans to build a final repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark. In Oskarshamn Municipality, 81 percent state that they are “completely in favour” or “in favour“ of SKB’s decision to build the encapsulation plant Clink in the municipality. The support for the final repository has been between 75 and 79 percent since 2013, when the polling started in its current form. The corresponding figure for the encapsulation plant has been between 78 and 81 percent.

Increased confidence in SKB

The confidence in SKB as a company also remains high. Moreover, it increases in Östhammar Municipality and the proportion that state that they have “very high” or “moderately high confidence” in SKB is now 82 percent. That is an increase of six percentage points since last year’s poll and thereby statistically significant. In Oskarshamn Municipality, 87 percent of the respondents state that they have “very high” or “moderately high“ confidence in SKB.

– The question of confidence is of course very important to us and it is particularly gratifying to see it increase in Östhammar Municipality, from an already high level. We will continue our work to be a company that deserves these great confidence figures, says Eva Halldén.

A strong majority (90 percent in Oskarshamn Municipality, 89 percent in Östhammar Municipality) is also of the opinion that SKB’s future activities will affect the municipality “very positively” or “positively”.

About the poll

The poll was conducted by Novus between 13 March and 14 April 2019. It comprises 800 completed telephone interviews with inhabitants in Oskarshamn and Östhammar Municipality and has a statistical margin of error of +/- 2.8 to 3.5 percent, based on the outcome.