New development in reactors
Denmark is considering the return of nuclear energy
Updated on May 15, 2025 – 03:34 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Denmark is primarily concerned with wind and solar energy. But now the Minister of Energy also spoke about new nuclear reactors.
Denmark has been relating to the energy from renewable sources for years. You can see dozens of wind turbines on many coastal sections, but that doesn’t seem enough for the government. Now it is being considered whether you could not turn to nuclear energy again. The Danish government announced 40 years ago to get out of nuclear power. Now you want to examine whether this step can be undone.
The world’s largest wind energy company, Ørsted. Denmark gets more than 80 percent of the electricity from renewable energies. In addition to wind, these are also biofuels and solar energy. Now the Minister of Energy and Climate, Lars Aagaard, announced that one would also like to deal with so -called modular nuclear power plants.
The minister told the Danish newspaper “Politiken”: “We can see that there is a development in the new nuclear power technologies – small, modular reactors. But it is not enough that they have potential. We also have to know what it means for Danish society if we want to enable these technologies.” Nevertheless, one wanted to hold on to the wind and solar energy as “cheapest sources”.
Support also comes from the former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He told the “Financial Times” that he was ridiculous the ban on nuclear power from the 1980s. “Wind and sun are good as long as you have wind and sun. But you need a non-fossil base load, and it is ridiculous to rule out the nuclear power from the outset. I suspect that this is a process (the government) to abolish the prohibition,” he said.
The developers of small modular reactor concepts, which can be built in factories and composed on site, promise lower costs and shorter construction times than conventional major reactors.
The CDU also questioned the German nuclear phase -out in a position paper last year. “We will strive for a professional inventory as soon as possible whether, given the respective dismantling stage, the operation of the last nuclear power plants that have been switched off is still possible with a reasonable technical and financial effort,” it said. The research and development of nuclear power plants of the fourth and fifth generation as well as SMR (small modular reactors) were supported.
But in the joint coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD there is no longer any question of nuclear energy. Instead, the renewable energies should be expanded.
