Site selection procedure for nuclear power plants in Denmark

Although no political decision to introduce nuclear power in Denmark has yet been made, appropriate action has been taken to make land reservations that will be necessary for prospective nuclear power plants. As it is wished to treat the problem on the basis of long-range national planning, an interdepartment committee has been appointed to deal with the matter. The committee includes representatives from a number of ministries, the Danish Atomic Energy Commission, the National Health Service, various government advisers, and the Danish Electricity Council. This paper describes how the committee arrived at the selection of suitable sites in the western part of the country. For a radiological safety assessment of the sites, a number of dose-related parameters were calculated, based on a loss-of-coolant-accident 131I release and the pertinent population distribution. In accordance with the ganeral recommendation by the International Commission on Radiological Protection that, economic and social considerations being taken into account, all doses should be kept as low as reasonably achievable, those sites were selected which had the lowest parameter values and which were acceptable from other points of view to the committee. Further, the paper mentions how a radius of 2-3 km was arrived at for an inner zone where very few new dwellings will be permitted, and reference is made to the choice of 10 km for the radius of an outer zone in which the population density will not be allowed to increase significantly. (author)