Stockholm - A majority of Swedes support continued use of nuclear power and support has reached a new high, Swedish researchers said Thursday.

The autumn 2008 survey by Gothenburg University researchers suggested that 51 per cent of the 3,250 people polled wanted to keep the 10 current reactors.

Of the 51 per cent, 30 per cent favoured replacing the reactors when they become outdated with new reactors while 21 per cent said they wanted to build even more reactors in future.

"This is the highest portion to date that have favoured that Sweden should use nuclear power," Soren Holmberg, political science professor who has gauged nuclear opinion since the 1970s, told Swedish radio news.

Only 9 per cent wanted to decommission the nuclear reactors as soon as possible, while 22 per cent said they wanted to phase out nuclear power and not replace reactors when they are decomissioned. The remaining 18 per cent were undecided or failed to reply.

Earlier this year, the ruling Swedish centre-right government announced it would revoke a 1980 referendum decision to phase out nuclear power, which accounts for about half of the country's electricity.

The government argued for replacing the current 10 reactors with new reactors, citing the debate about climate change and need to secure long-term energy production as factors that contributed to the re-think.

At its height, Sweden had 12 nuclear reactors in operation. But two reactors at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden have been decommissioned, most recently in May 2005. (dpa)