Consequences of nuclear energy: Opponents of nuclear power warn of dangers in interim nuclear storage facilities

In view of the unresolved issue of final nuclear storage in Germany, anti-nuclear organizations have warned of massive safety deficiencies in the existing interim storage facilities. “We don’t have a single interim storage facility that is sufficiently safe. That’s already the state of affairs,” said Helge Bauer from the organization “ausradiert” in Hanover.

The federal government has not yet presented a sensible concept as to how it wants to deal with the fact that the nuclear waste has to remain in the interim storage facilities for significantly longer than once hoped. There was also still a lack of suitable protection concepts against terrorist attacks or sabotage.

Demand: Government must present a new concept for interim storage facilities

The government must therefore urgently present a concept for interim storage of nuclear waste in which minimizing risks to the population has the top priority, demanded Bauer. Over the next two decades, many interim storage facilities would lose their permits. “The castors were also only approved for 40 years,” explained Bauer. The first ones in Gorleben in 2032 would lose their TÜV stamp, so to speak.

The search for a suitable location for a final repository for highly radioactive waste is currently underway in Germany. The Federal Environment Ministry assumes that a corresponding final repository will be found by 2050, around 20 years later than originally planned. It is still completely unclear when nuclear waste can actually be stored. The final disposal of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste is also an ongoing contentious issue. The Konrad shaft near Salzgitter, a former iron ore mine, intended for this purpose, is currently being prepared and is not expected to go into operation until 2027 at the earliest. Critics complain about a lack of security.

The search for a final storage facility involves finding a place at depth for the permanent storage of 27,000 cubic meters of highly radioactive waste from more than 60 years of nuclear power in Germany. The aim is to find a place that will be safe for a million years, as the waste will radiate for hundreds of thousands of years. It is currently stored in 16 above-ground interim storage facilities in various federal states.

Is acceptance of the repository search process in danger of failing again?

Bauer warned that the current final storage search process is in danger of failing, as it once did at the Gorleben site – due to a lack of acceptance, a lack of transparency and shortened citizen participation: “We will then very quickly get to a point where trust will be lost over the years in this location search anyway Now running, the population has become smaller and smaller in this process.” Many of those who were heavily involved at the beginning have already withdrawn from the process because they could not assert themselves against the state authorities or because they did not find room for real participation.

In order to draw attention to the problems with German nuclear waste, several anti-nuclear organizations published a 468-page overview of nuclear waste storage in Germany. It lists over 216 nuclear facilities at 71 locations. Accordingly, 84 are currently in operation, 56 systems are closed or are being dismantled.