23 Nov Risø Items to be Preserved in Museum

The autumn-chilled air was tinged with a certain melancholy as the DR 3 model was carried outside. It was one of the Risø artifacts that the Steno Museum collected last Friday to preserve them for posterity.

EEven before the establishment of Danish Decommissioning, an agreement was made with the Museum of the History of Science in Aarhus to document and preserve the most significant components of Atomstation Risø. Following a visit in December 2002, the Steno Museum described in a letter the items they immediately found interesting. Topping this list is a model of Danish Reactor 3.

The model, primarily constructed from wood, had stood for years in the foyer of the reactor building. Along with a selection of display boards, it was used to explain the reactor's processes to visitors. However, with the ongoing decommissioning of the reactor, the time had come to retire the model.

Years ago, the Steno Museum previously collected several significant artifacts, including the control console from Danish Reactor 1, which was decommissioned in 2004-2006. Now, the time had arrived for the next collection. When the van departed for Aarhus on Friday, it contained, in addition to the reactor model, two brand-new drums of released waste and unused pipes for fuel elements and experiments.

These items will be part of a new exhibition, opening at the Steno Museum in spring 2018, focusing on the curious human. And when further historical facilities at Risø are dismantled, the museum will once again return with a van.