"The survey findings suggest that, given the numbers who are still opposed to renewal of nuclear power, there remains considerable potential for conflict around this issue," said Nick Pidgeon of the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The survey comes just one week before the government is due to launch an intensive public consultation on the future mix of the country's energy sources both in terms of climate change and the need for security of energy supply.

Conducted in October and November last year, the survey showed that while 34 percent of people thought the country's ageing nuclear plants should be replaced as they are decommissioned over the next decade, an equal number believed they should not be.

And while nine percent said the number of nuclear power stations should be increased in the process, 15 percent said they should all be shut down immediately with no replacements.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who announced the review late last year, is believed to privately favour the replacement of the country's nuclear power plants which provide some 20 percent of the nation's electricity.

But his cabinet is deeply divided on the issue, as are the general public.

"Twenty-five percent of the public don't want nuclear power at any cost," Pidgeon said, complaining that the level of public debate on the emotive issue was appallingly low, although awareness of the dangers of climate change was very high.

The survey, carried out by researchers at UEA's Centre for Environmental Risk and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, and pollsters Ipsos MORI, found that 78 percent of Britons favoured renewable sources over nuclear.

"Given the choice, people would prefer other sources of power than nuclear," Pidgeon said.

But Kevin Anderson, head of energy policy at the Tyndall Centre, noted that 76 percent of people favoured cutting electricity demand through efficiency measures and lifestyle change and said the nuclear question was almost irrelevant.

"Energy efficiency provides real options ... It can dramatically decarbonise many sectors," he said, noting that in many cases the technology was already available and what was needed was forceful policies to put it into practice.

"If we only look at energy supply we are asking the wrong question. The demand side is inherently more flexible than supply," he noted. "We do not require nuclear power to reach the UK's 60 percent target on cutting carbon dioxide emissions."

The government's energy review is expected to reach a conclusion by the middle of the year.

Faced with high oil prices, a growing reliance on imported gas and the ageing stock of nuclear power stations, the government must decide on a new supply mix soon.