Ambassador excursion visited IFE Halden Reactor Project

Sectors:

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranges yearly an excursion for diplomats stationed in Norway, giving them the opportunity to get to know Norway beyond the capital. This time the trip went eastwards in the country, to Halden among other destinations. IFE with its international activities was a natural place to pay a visit.

Contact: Elisenberg, Thomas

Department Head

Roundtrip in Eastern Norway
Ambassadors and companions were offered a broad and varied program, with a mixture of company visits, research, culture and history. The excursion started in Ås, Wednesday 13th of June, where they visited a summer pasture and had lunch at Matforsk. Then the group was taken to sightseeing in Fredrikstad’s old town, and a visit to the new football stadium, built on the Old Fredrikstad Mechanical Workshop’s premises. They met with representatives from the regional administration; the county municipality and the town municipality in Fredrikstad, and the ambassadors had dinner and spent the night in the town.


Artillery company salutes the visitors Mayor in Halden, Mr. Per-Kristian Dahl, welcomes the ambassadors

Grand reception in Halden
Thursday 14th of June the trip continued by boat from Fredrikstad to Halden, with a first stop at the cable-company Nexans. After this, they continued to the guest-harbour in Halden, where Mayor Per-Kristian Dahl welcomed the diplomats at the pier. Artillery company fired 12 gunshots with canon, and a brass band entertained with music. In Halden two more large, international enterprises were selected as sights; IFE-Halden and Norske Skog. The group was split in two, one visited IFE-Halden first, the other Norske Skog, and they switched thereafter.

Guided tour in the reactor
At IFE-Halden the ambassadors were welcomed by Deputy Project Manager/Research Director Fridtjof Øwre and introduced to the Halden Reactor Project and IFE’s MTO research (Man-Technology-Organisation interactions). Then they were given a guided tour to the control room, where they among other things learned about how the Halden reactor is constructed. After this, the diplomats dressed in helmets and white pull-on suits, and were given a tour inside the reactor hall itself. The ambassadors were very content with the visit at IFE, and those who represented countries participating in the Halden Reactor Projects were especially interested. After both groups had visited IFE and Norske Skog, the program was rounded off with a late lunch at Kongshallene, Fredriksten Fortress.