Denmark to consider lifting nuclear ban after European blackouts expose green energy issues
Denmark’s government appears to be warming to the perceived benefits of new nuclear power technologies following a commitment to analyse the options and potentially reverse a 40-year national ban on traditional nuclear reactors.
The country’s federal parliament has voted by a large majority to repeal a 1985 law that phased out nuclear power and prevented the construction of new nuclear-generating capacity.
The latest move marks a significant policy shift in a country that has prioritised expanding its vast wind and solar power resources.
Social implications
The analysis will study the social implications of advanced nuclear technology such as small modular reactors (SMRs), which are built in factories and potentially offer shorter construction times than large plants.
SMRs have attracted significant investor enthusiasm globally but many are still in design stages or awaiting regulatory approval.
The analysis will also look into the benefits of integrating nuclear into Denmark’s energy mix, culminating in a final report by 2026.
Widespread outage
Denmark’s government will aim to identify the best ways to avoid a repeat of last month’s unprecedented and widespread outage in Spain, Portugal and southern France that paralysed daily life for millions of people.
The occurrence was one of the most severe blackouts in recent memory, disrupting transportation, communications and essential services and prompting a national state of emergency.
Spain’s government said that it lost 15 gigawatts of power — around 60% of national demand — within five seconds.
Base power issues
The incident exposed issues with green energy sources, with experts suggesting the Spanish grid’s limited international interconnection and the lack of mechanical inertia from renewables may have contributed to the blackout.
Electricity grids usually have a reliable base power supply—historically, coal, natural gas and nuclear.
However, Spain has no such base power on its grid, instead relying on less stable renewable energy such as solar and wind.
Denmark currently uses coal and gas for its base power, as well as interconnectors to countries such as Sweden and Norway — which have nuclear and hydro resources — to ensure a low level of power interruptions by European standards.
Renewable energy
Denmark has one of Europe’s highest shares of renewable energy in its electricity mix, with over 80% of its power coming from wind, solar and biomass.
The country is home to Ørsted, the world’s biggest offshore wind company, specialising in the development, construction and operation of offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities and bioenergy plants in Europe, the US and Asia.
Ørsted reportedly holds a 25% share of the global wind farm market.
Wider options
Denmark’s minister for climate, energy and utilities, Lars Aagaard, said the country had to start looking at options beyond renewable energy.
“Denmark has no recent experience with nuclear power, which is why it is important that we start analysing the potential—can this technology complement solar and wind, which are already dominant in our country?” he said.
“We all know, of course, that we cannot have an electricity system based on solar and wind alone—there has to be something else to support it.”
Safety concerns
Mr Aagaard stressed that Denmark had yet to determine whether SMRs would be a truly safe option or how nuclear waste would be handled.
“Just having potential is not enough—we must also understand what it means for Danish society if we are to enable these technologies.”
Mr Aagaard said the nuclear energy review would not replace Denmark’s current energy policy, which pursues wind and solar power generation as “the cheapest and fastest routes to green transition”.