A novel reciprocal-compensated structure is proposed and demonstrated for intensity-modulated intrinsic fiber-optic current sensors. Both the component losses and birefringence influences can be partly compensated using this configuration, and the sensor is sensitive only to nonreciprocal Faraday rotation. The dependence of the signal on circular birefringence drift can be reduced by a factor better than 10 for low birefringence fibers. The property of total reciprocity reduces the sensitivity of the current sensor to temperature changes and vibrations. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions for the sensor, fabricated using a coil of low birefringence single-mode fiber. >