Norway Accelerates Kjeller Nuclear Cleanup, State Takeover Possible in 2027

Norway is pushing the Kjeller handoff into gear, with the government saying the transfer of the nuclear facilities could happen as soon as 1 January 2027. That would put Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning, the state cleanup agency, directly in charge of one of the country’s most sensitive legacy nuclear sites, along with the remaining decommissioning work, waste management and long-term oversight.

The speed-up matters because Kjeller is not just a shut facility waiting on paperwork. The site sits about 20 km northeast of Oslo city centre and carries the weight of Norway’s research reactor era, which the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety says included four operational reactors across Halden and Kjeller between 1951 and 2019. At Kjeller, JEEP II ran at 2 MW thermal output and supported fundamental research, isotope production, and semiconductor doping, while government material says the site also played a role in materials research and the development of nuclear medicine, including cancer treatment applications.

The handoff is being built around a framework agreement signed on 2 July 2024 by the government and the Institute of Energy Technology. Under that deal, the state takes over IFE’s responsibility for decommissioning, handling and storage, and the costs tied to that work. The transfer will not happen until NND receives an operating licence from the government on the basis of DSA’s recommendation, but the ministry wants preparations to start immediately so the transition is ready to move when the licence is in place.

This is the practical milestone that changes the project. Parliament had already asked in its 2020-2021 white paper on safe decommissioning for the state to take full responsibility and cover necessary costs, and the new timetable suggests that shift is now moving from policy to operations. Cecilie Myrseth has said the experience gained at Halden shows NND is well suited to take responsibility at Kjeller too, a sign that the government is doubling down on the state model rather than leaving cleanup in the hands of the old operator.

The stakes are also financial. A Ministry-commissioned estimate in 2020 put decommissioning Halden and Kjeller at about NOK20 billion and 20 to 25 years. By 2026, the projected bill had risen to NOK33 billion to NOK57 billion, with cleanup stretching over several decades. NND has already been building the machinery for that job, including a December 2022 licence application for Halden, Kjeller and the Himdalen waste repository, the transfer of the Halden facilities on 1 April 2025, and a Westinghouse engineering contract worth up to NOK1 billion for decommissioning planning. For Kjeller, the next phase is no longer theoretical: it is a state-led cleanup sequence with real deadlines, real liabilities and a clearer chain of command.