02 Mar Members of parliament visited DD

On 27 February, Danish Decommissioning received a visit from the Danish Parliament. 12 politicians, members of the Health and Prevention Committee and the Environment Committee respectively, visited DD to hear about Denmark's radioactive waste. They were given a tour of the interim storage facilities for Denmark's radioactive waste.

S Since 2003, DD contributed to the work on a long-term solution for waste, and our task from the beginning was to prepare a concept for a final depot, in accordance with Folketing resolution B48 of 2003. In 2012, a majority of political parties decided that the possibility of long-term storage, and the possibility of exporting all the waste, should be explored in parallel with the continued work on the final depot track. DD in 2013, an appropriation of EUR 1.1 million was granted to prepare a basis for decision-making on the establishment of an intermediate storage facility for low- and medium-level radioactive waste. This basis for decision-making has just been finalised in collaboration with GEUS and with the assistance of the National Institute for Radiation Protection, and the report was published on 27 February. View report

The basis for the decision concludes that it is possible to establish an intermediate storage facility in Denmark, where the security requirements imposed by the authorities are expected to be met. However, final repository is considered internationally as the accepted solution for radioactive waste. According to the current EU Directive establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, the storage of radioactive waste, including long-term storage, is a provisional solution but not an alternative to landfill (preamble paragraph 21). In most European countries that do not already have a depot, an end depot is being established or planned.

As an intermediate storage facility is thus not the final solution for handling the waste, but a step on the way before a final deposit, a decision must in any case be taken on how a final deposit should be included in further planning.

It is the political parties that decide on the long-term solution for radioactive waste. The Ministry of Health has convened a meeting to be held in early March on the status of the three tracks: final repository, intermediate storage and exports.