Apparently there is no need at all for medical or industrial radioisotopes in Denmark -- they must not have any cancer at all -- amazing ! (must be all that wonderful coal power -- or the fact that they send its pollution out to Sweden & Finland....)
Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Denmark's last research nuclear reactor to be decommissioned
Associated Press Newswires, 13 March 2003
By JAN M. OLSEN
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Danish lawmakers approved Thursday the decommissioning of the Scandinavian country's last research nuclear reactor.
The decommissioning of the 10-megawatt DR 3 reactor at the Risoe National Laboratory, a state science and technology center, should "be carried out as soon as possible and should be concluded within the time frame of 20 years," the center said in a statement.
The DR 3 reactor is a research reactor built to test materials and new components for commercially-operated nuclear reactors.
The 105-0 vote in parliament "marks a new era for Risoe that now can focus its research on new, sustainable energy technologies," manager Joergen Kjems said. Seventy-four lawmakers were absent.
No date for the start of the decommission was immediately available. The reactor was shut down in April 2000 after fears of leaking and never was restarted.
The three reactors at Risoe, near Roskilde, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Copenhagen, began operating in 1957-58.
In 1975, a 5-megawatt reactor was stopped after 17 years of service because Denmark opted to end the use of nuclear power. The reactor was built as a research facility to eventually develop power-producing reactors.
This Scandinavian country of 5.3 million, opted instead to get its energy from coal and wind power. Another and smaller reactor, for educational and research purposes, stopped operating in 2000.
The cleanup of Risoe's nuclear facilities and the disposal of 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of radioactive waste is expected to cost about 1 billion kroner (US$147 million).
The Risoe center was founded in 1956.
====================================