(Xinhua) -- Most Italians now favor a return to nuclear power, according to the results of a new poll released Wednesday. The poll, carried out by the SWG research group for the Confesercenti, the national association of retail service operators, found that 54 percent of Italians are in favor of nuclear power while 36 percent are opposed to it. A total of 800 respondents participated in the poll carried out between July 25 and 30.
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 percent -- were opposed to their country building new nuclear power plants for itself in neighboring countries, while 11percent thought it was a good idea. A 2007 poll taken by the IPSOS research institute had found that some 82 percent of Italians were opposed to the return to nuclear power.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to return Italy to nuclear power as a means of reducing dependence on costly oil imports.