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Climate Round-Up: Could Denmark soon have a new Swedish nuclear power plant as a neighbour?
Loïc Padovani
October 31st, 2022
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This article is more than 2 years old.
That won’t happen until the 2030s, but the immediate concern is today, concur up to 40,000 people in Sunday’s protest in Copenhagen
Barsebäck nuclear power plant in Sweden has been decommissioned in 2015 (photo: Jorchr)
Plans to build a new atomic plant near the decommissioned nuclear power station Barsebäck are taking shape in Scania, southern Sweden – a site just over 20 km across the Øresund from Copenhagen.
For decades, the Danish government campaigned tirelessly for its closure due to its proximity to Denmark.
But now it would appear the station’s owner, Uniper, is considering plans to build both a nuclear power station and a clean energy park – at Kävlinge, a more inland location, some 15 km away from Barsebäck.
If approved, both could be operational sometime in the 2030s.
Serious funding in place
In light of the energy crisis, the new Swedish government regards both sets of plans as viable. After all, it reasons, nuclear power is not dependent on the weather.
The Swedish government is in favour of nuclear energy, and it is setting aside 400 billion Swedish krona in credit guarantees to expand nuclear power in Sweden.
“Today, we do not have enough energy in Scania, and we want to contribute a solution. There are positive signals coming from the new government,” Barsebäck’s chief executive Åsa Carlson, an employee of Uniper, told SVT.
The decommissioning of the old station began in 2005, and it was due to be completed in 2028 with the final demolition of reactors one and two.
October 2022 one of the warmest ever in Denmark
It’s been very warm this month, but perhaps not the warmest ever. That record belongs to October 2006 with an average of 12.2 degrees, and it looks like October 2022 will come up just short with 12.0. Still it’s been balmy of late, with daytime temperatures reaching 18 degrees in the south just last week, and nighttime around 10 degrees.
Tens of thousands join climate marches
According to Copenhagen Police, there were between 30,000 and 40,000 people involved in yesterday’s climate protest in the capital, which was organised by Klimabevægelsen i Danmark. Protests were also held Viborg, Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg, Hillerød, Helsingør, Nykøbing F, Ebeltoft, Odder, Silkeborg, Haderslev and Ærø. Pressing the government to prioritise the green transition, PM Mette Frederiksen responded in person by conceding to protesters in Copenhagen that climate hasn’t been high enough on the agenda of the political debate during the campaign.
Denmark the world’s biggest producer of meat per capita
With 325.59 kg meat per capita, Denmark has the largest meat production in the world, ahead of New Zealand (301.57 kg), Ireland (240.72 kg) and Mongolia (190.68 kg), according to UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization stats. Arable land accounts for approximately 60 percent of Denmark’s total area, of which 75 percent of the production is used to feed animals. Animal Protection Denmark has called for a smarter meat distribution as many exports end up gong to distant countries.
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