Risø DTU

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Risø DTU National Laboratory for bæredygtig energi
Risø DTU National Laboratory for bæredygtig energi
The Risø peninsula with the research center (view from Roskilde Fjord )
Carrier: Denmark's Technical University (DTU)
Facility location: Risø peninsula near Roskilde
Areas of expertise: Energy research , formerly nuclear energy , today renewable energy
Homepage: www.risoe.dtu.dk
Risø research facilities: In the foreground wind turbines, in the background the buildings of the research nuclear reactors

Risø DTU (full name: Danish Risø Danmarks Tekniske Universitet Nationallaboratoriet for bæredygtig energi , German Risø Denmark's Technical University National Renewable Energy Laboratory ) is a research center on the northern edge of the Danish city of Roskilde .

The center is named after the small Risø peninsula, on which the center is located, and its sponsor, Denmark's Technical University , or DTU for short .

Until the mid-1980s, the focus of research was nuclear energy technology , today renewable forms of energy . The laboratory employs around 700 researchers and employees (as of 2007).

History and main research areas

Nuclear Physics and Energy Engineering

The center was established in the mid-1950s (officially 1958) as a nuclear research facility of the Danish Atomic Energy Commission under the name Atomenergiekommissions -Forschungsanlage Risø ( Danish Atomenergikommisionens Forsøgsanlæg Risø ). Niels Bohr , who was head of the Atomic Energy Commission at the time , had a decisive influence on the establishment .

During the first three decades, the center's activities focused on research into the peaceful uses of nuclear energy . Three research reactors on the site date from this time , but are no longer used today and are being dismantled:

designation Reactor type Thermal performance Years of operation Dismantling
DR1 Homogeneous reactor 2 kW 1957-2001 2003-2006
DR2 Swimming pool reactor 5 MW 1958-1975 since 2003
DR3 DIDO 10 MW 1960-2000 since 2003

Renewable energy

Triggered by the oil crisis in the mid-1970s, there was a controversial discussion among the Danish public about the use of nuclear energy. In 1985 (until then there was no commercial reactor in operation in Denmark) the Danish Parliament passed a law against the construction of nuclear power plants. Instead, the decision was made to focus more on renewable energies, and here again especially on wind power .

In line with the change of direction in Danish energy policy, research activities in the field of nuclear research have also been scaled back significantly and the tasks of the research center have been adjusted. It changed its name to Forschungszentrum Risø ( Danish Forskningscenter Risø ) and broadened its activities to non-nuclear research with a focus on renewable energies, in particular wind energy but also fuel cells and other application-oriented research in the field of biotechnology, materials engineering, radiation and plasma physics.

In 2007, the Risø Research Center merged with various other Danish research institutions and the Danish Technical University (DTU) became an institute . In the course of this reorganization, the name was changed to Risø DTU .

literature

  • Morten Jastrup (Ed.): Energy for the future - with Risø from nuclear power to sustainable energy . Festschrift on the occasion of the 50th anniversary. Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Roskilde 2008 ( full text as PDF - Danish: Energi til Fremdtiden - med Risø fra atomkraft til bæredygtig energi .).
  • Henry Nielsen, Keld Nielsen, Flemming Petersen, Hans Siggaard Jensen: Risø National Laboratory - Forty Years of Research in a Changing Society . Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde 1998 ( Abstract of the English version - Danish: Til samfundets tarv - Forskningscenter Risøs historie .).

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Risø DTU - Official website
  2. ↑ a b c d e Jastrup 2008
  3. ↑ Henrik Knudsen: Risøs reaktorer . 2006, p. 3 ( full text (PDF; 9.7 MB) at risoe.dk).
  4. ↑ a b Nuclear Energy in Denmark. World Nuclear Association , accessed September 30, 2011 .

Coordinates: 55 ° 41 ′ 34.8 ″  N , 12 ° 6 ′ 0 ″  E