Norway has accepted nuclear waste from other countries

Nuclear WasteNuclear waste. Photo: Pixabay

Norway has accepted nuclear waste from other countries

Several countries have left high-level nuclear waste behind in Norway, without any agreements on the return of nuclear fuel, writes Teknisk Ukeblad.


Managing Director of the Department of Energy Technology (IFE), Nils Morten Huseby, confirms to Teknisk Ukeblad (Technical Weekly magazine) that the member countries of the Halden project, including the USA, the UK, Japan and Russia, have sent the fuel. The waste totals 1 metric ton.

The fuel was tested in Norway, but has remained here after the tests were completed. There are no agreements with the supplier countries that the waste can be returned. This may cause the final bill to clean up Norwegian nuclear waste, which can be even higher than what has so far emerged.

“We now see that the costs of dealing with nuclear waste are considerable. You haven’t really priced this item until now,” the IFE director admits.

Member of Parliament, Lars Haltbrekken (SV), says that he expects answers from the Government.

“The Parliament could certainly have decided that we should conduct experiments with nuclear fuel, but not on the assumption that this would remain in Norway,” he says.

It was known in January, that the cleanup after the Halden reactor, which has been shut down, will be three times more expensive than expected. In this year’s state budget, the Government estimates that the clean-up will cost NOK 15 billion over several decades, and refers to a report from 2016. The Government points , however, out that considerable uncertainty is attached to the estimate.


© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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