Minister: Denmark may lift 40-year-old ban on nuclear energy

Denmark may lift a ban on nuclear energy that dates back 40 years to improve its energy security. This is a major policy shift for a country which has prioritized expanding wind and solar energy.

Lars Aagaard, the Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities, said that the Danish government would analyse potential benefits from new nuclear technologies, and a report is expected to be completed next year.

Denmark has not had much experience with nuclear energy, so it's important to start analyzing the potential. "Can this technology complement the dominant technologies in our country, solar and wind power?," he asked.

"We know all that we cannot have a system of electricity based solely on solar and wind." Aagaard continued, "There has to be another support system."

Aagaard stated that Denmark is not ready to deal with many aspects of new nuclear technologies and lacks sufficient knowledge about the subject.

Can we be confident that this technology will not harm us? How do we dispose the nuclear wastes? Are our authorities ready in case something goes wrong? Et so on. "We don't know that, but we do need it," said he.

Aagaard also dismissed the notion that nuclear power will be restored in Denmark after it banned it in 1985.

The Danes were elated in 2005 when Sweden, which borders Copenhagen and is located just across the Oresund Strait, shut down Barseback 2, the nuclear reactor near Copenhagen.

The current government in Sweden is pro-nuclear and wants to build more capacity. Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Jacob GronholtPedersen. Editing by Tomaszjanowski and Ed Osmond.

(source: Reuters)