Danish Decommissioning more waste than most. By 2025, Danish Decommissioning will have Danish Decommissioning 33 tons of material for standard waste treatment, while 1.3 tons will have been classified as radioactive waste and stored at Risø. This sorting process makes a significant contribution to reducing the amount of waste that will need to be disposed of in a final repository in the future.

Oneof Dansk Dekommissionering’s key tasks is to ensure that the final volume of radioactive waste that Denmark must dispose of underground is kept as small as possible. That is why the staff at DDrelease laboratory in Risø are working diligently to distinguish between materials that actually constitute radioactive waste—and those that do not.

Advanced measurements ensure accurate classification
In the clearance laboratory, all material expected to fall below the limit values for radioactive waste is thoroughly checked. Advanced measuring equipment is used here that can detect even very low levels of radiation. Only if no radioactivity above the limit values can be detected is the material released for conventional waste management.

The release function is the only accredited program of its kind in Denmark.

In 2025, measurements showed that 33.1 tons of material were released as general waste, while 1.3 tons were classified as radioactive waste and stored at Risø. This is the largest amount of waste released in the past five years. In 2021, 3.7 tons were released; in 2022, 28.5 tons; in 2023, 9.3 tons; and in 2024, 3 tons.

In total, as of 2021, 77.7 tons of waste have been released for routine disposal, while 5.4 tons have been classified as radioactive waste.

The materials typically released include reactor components, concrete, steel structures, ventilation systems, water pipes, machinery parts, and other building components from the former nuclear research facility at Risø.

There is also waste that does not pass through the clearance laboratory because less sophisticated measuring equipment can determine in advance that it is radioactive. This waste is sent directly to storage facility.

Significant savings for society
It has not yet been determined how Denmark’s future final repository for radioactive waste will be constructed or how much it will cost. But it is clear that it is significantly more expensive to dispose of radioactive waste in a final repository than it is to treat the material as ordinary waste.

That is why every single kilogram that can be sorted out as non-radioactive has a direct positive impact—both on the environment and on the long-term costs to the government and, consequently, to taxpayers.

Mikkel Øberg, Director of Radiation Protection, work environment Quality at Danish Decommissioning, is pleased with this year’s results:

“It’s a truly impressive achievement that we’ve once again been able to release such large quantities of material. This is concrete proof that our expertise and our testing processes are working exactly as they should. Every time we can document that a material does not exceed the limit values, we save resources, space in the final disposal site, and money for society. This is absolutely central to our mission.”