The establishment of a new storage facility for Denmark’s nuclear waste at Risø near Roskilde has been delayed again and is now expected to be ready no earlier than 2030. This is according to Dansk Dekommissionering (Danish Decommissioning), which is responsible for the storage of radioactive waste.

The project has been postponed on several occasions, with the original plan being to put the storage facility into use in 2023. The most recent estimate had been for completion in 2029.

Mikkel Øberg, director of radiation protection at Dansk Dekommissionering, stated that the work on the new storage facility has proven to be “quite extensive”. He also noted that there are many authorities involved, requiring more discussion in the decision-making chain as the project becomes more concrete.

In 2018, a political decision was made to upgrade the storage facilities at Risø to secure the storage of nuclear waste against threats like storm surges and climate change. It was also decided that the radioactive waste should be stored at Risø until 2073 at the latest, when a deep geological repository will be put into use.

The research station at Risø has been in operation since 1957, initially exploring the possibilities of nuclear energy. However, in 1985, the Danish Parliament decided against including nuclear power in the Danish energy supply, and the last facility at Risø was decommissioned in 2000.

Currently, the majority of the waste at Risø consists of contaminated material from hospitals and low-level waste, such as old fire alarms. Dansk Dekommissionering estimates that there are 10,000 to 15,000 cubic meters of waste.

Recently, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has suggested easing the rules on the ban on nuclear power. The other government parties, Venstre and Moderaterne, are also open to abolishing the ban.