Majority of Italians favor return to nuclear power

An absolute majority of Italians now favor a return to nuclear power, according to a new poll out on Wednesday.
Carried out by the SWG research group for the Confesercenti retail services association, the poll found that 54% of Italians are in favor of nuclear power while 36% are opposed.
The poll was taken on a cross-section of 800 people between July 25 and 30 and thus after the recent nuclear incidents reported at power plants in France.
Italy abandoned nuclear energy after a 1987 referendum, the result of which was strongly influenced by the Chernobyl disaster in Russia the previous year.
The poll also found that an overwhelming majority of Italians, 83%, were opposed to Italy building new nuclear power plants for itself in neighboring countries, while 11% thought this was a good idea.
Although 39% of those quizzed said they would accept living within 100km from a nuclear plant, only 2% said they would live a kilometer away, while 23% said that would want to be at least 500km from a plant.
A 2007 poll taken by the the IPSOS research institute found that some 82% of Italians disliked the idea of a return to nuclear power.
The center-right government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to return Italy to nuclear power as a way to depend less on costly foreign oil.