1980 Nuclear Power Referendum
On 23 March 1980 Sweden held a non-binding three-option national referendum on the future of nuclear power. Voters narrowly chose Line 2 — a gradual phase-out compromise framed by the Social Democrats and Liberals — over Line 3's rapid phase-out backed by the Centre and Left parties. The result settled, for a time, a cleavage that had toppled the Fälldin I cabinet in 1978, while the long-term reality drifted closer to Line 1.
On 23 March 1980 Sweden held the second national referendum of the post-war era, a non-binding three-option vote on the future of nuclear power. The ballot offered Line 1 (continued use of existing and planned reactors, backed by the Moderates), Line 2 (a gradual phase-out after the 12 reactors then planned, jointly framed by the Social Democrats and Liberals), and Line 3 (rapid phase-out within ten years, supported by the Centre, VPK, and the future KD).
Line 2 won a narrow plurality over Line 3. The Riksdag then enacted Line 2 as policy: 12 reactors permitted, with a target full phase-out by 2010. The referendum functioned as a pressure-release valve for a cleavage that had toppled the Fälldin I cabinet in October 1978; by routing the question to direct vote, the political class de-escalated a paralysing intra-coalition conflict and allowed Thorbjörn Fälldin‘s second cabinet to govern.
The 1980 vote was the first major use of direct democracy to settle a politically explosive policy question in the post-war Swedish model — a procedural precedent revisited by the 1994 EU referendum and the 2003 euro referendum. The 2010 phase-out target was repeatedly extended and then effectively abandoned; in operational terms the long-term reality has drifted closer to Line 1 than to the formal Line 2 plurality.