  We carry out a detailed stability analysis of the superconducting vortex
solutions in the Weinberg-Salam theory described in Nucl.Phys. B826 (2010) 174.
These vortices are characterized by constant electric current $I$ and electric
charge density $I_0$, for ${I}\to 0$ they reduce to Z strings. We consider the
generic field fluctuations around the vortex and apply the functional Jacobi
criterion to detect the negative modes in the fluctuation operator spectrum. We
find such modes and determine their dispersion relation, they turn out to be of
two different types, according to their spatial behavior. There are
non-periodic in space negative modes, which can contribute to the instability
of infinitely long vortices, but they can be eliminated by imposing the
periodic boundary conditions along the vortex. There are also periodic negative
modes, but their wavelength is always larger than a certain minimal value, so
that they cannot be accommodated by the short vortex segments. However, even
for the latter there remains one negative mode responsible for the homogeneous
expansion instability. This mode may probably be eliminated when the vortex
segment is bent into a loop. This suggests that small vortex loops balanced
against contraction by the centrifugal force could perhaps be stable.
