diff --git a/src/input_xml.f90 b/src/input_xml.f90
index 38521960be..e07318969d 100644
--- a/src/input_xml.f90
+++ b/src/input_xml.f90
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ contains
     end if
 
     ! Survival biasing
-    if (size(survival_) > 0) survival_biasing = .true.
+    if (trim(survival_) == 'on') survival_biasing = .true.
 
     ! Cutoffs
     if (size(cutoff_) > 0) then
diff --git a/src/xml-fortran/templates/settings_t.xml b/src/xml-fortran/templates/settings_t.xml
index 3e0bc52c76..7309eb039c 100644
--- a/src/xml-fortran/templates/settings_t.xml
+++ b/src/xml-fortran/templates/settings_t.xml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
   <variable name="criticality" type="criticality_xml" />
   <variable name="verbosity_" tag="verbosity" type="integer" />
   <variable name="source_" tag="source" type="source_xml" />
-  <variable name="survival_" tag="survival_biasing" type="word" length="3" dimension="1" />
+  <variable name="survival_" tag="survival_biasing" type="word" length="3" />
   <variable name="cutoff_" tag="cutoff" type="cutoff_xml" dimension="1" />
 
 </template>