COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Denmark is considering lifting a 40-year-old ban on nuclear power to enhance its energy security, its energy minister said, marking a significant policy shift in a country that has prioritised expanding wind and solar power.
The Danish government will analyse the potential benefits of new nuclear power technologies, with a report expected to be ready next year, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard told Danish daily Politiken in an interview published late on Tuesday.
“We can see that there is a development underway with new nuclear power technologies – small, modular reactors,” Aagaard said in remarks confirmed by his ministry on Wednesday.
“But it’s not enough that they have potential. We also need to know what it means for Danish society if we are to enable these technologies,” he said.
He also dismissed the idea that traditional nuclear power technologies would return in Denmark, which banned it in 1985.
“We continue the energy policy we have pursued for many years in Denmark. Solar and wind are the cheapest and fastest way to the green transition,” Aagaard said.
In 2005, Danes celebrated as neighbouring Sweden shut down the Barseback 2 nuclear reactor, located near Copenhagen just across the Oresund strait.
While Sweden has closed more of its nuclear plants over the past decade, the current government is taking a firmly pro-nuclear stance and is seeking to build new capacity.
Later on Wednesday, Aagaard is due to appear at a public hearing in parliament and answer questions from opposition parties favouring the revival of nuclear power.
(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
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