Nuclear waste: After four years: A Castor train arrives in Germany

For the first time in four years, a Castor transport transported highly radioactive waste from abroad through Germany. At around 5:45 p.m. the train with four containers reached the state interim storage facility in Philippsburg near Karlsruhe, as the Gesellschaft für Kern-Service mbH (GNS) announced. Although opponents of nuclear power had mobilized days ago, the train passed the route across France, via Saarland and the Palatinate to Baden-Württemberg without any problems.

The transport involved waste left over after the reprocessing of fuel elements from German nuclear power plants in La Hague, France. Germany is under international law and the German nuclear power plant operators are obliged under private law to take back these remains. The GNS announced that the return transport of German waste from France has now been successfully completed. “The return is part of a responsible nuclear phase-out,” emphasized Jörg Michels, head of the nuclear power division of the power plant operator EnBW, at a meeting in mid-October.

In the past, Castor transports in Germany were accompanied by massive protests. There were sometimes riots, and opponents of nuclear power dug up large quantities of stones from the track bed. Things have changed since Germany decided to phase out nuclear power. The last Castor transport from abroad to Germany four years ago went smoothly.

Demonstrators criticize “nuclear waste transfers”

However, opponents of nuclear power set up a vigil at the train station in Philippsburg. From their point of view, highly radioactive nuclear waste is a dangerous legacy for future generations. The critics primarily complain that there is still no final repository. As long as long-term storage is not clarified, from their point of view there should be “no nuclear waste being moved from A to B,” according to a letter from “Anti-Atom Südwest”.

The police secured the route and train stations, and helicopters were also used. For safety reasons, those responsible had not given any information about the schedule or exact route until recently. Opponents of nuclear power had already watched the transport’s departure on Tuesday afternoon. He then crossed the border on Wednesday.

According to the GNS, the respective state nuclear regulator and independent experts commissioned by it monitored, among other things, measurements to ensure that regulations and limit values ​​were adhered to. “When carrying out the transport, the safety of people and the environment was the top priority.”

Intermediate storage for many years

Four special wagons brought the castors to Philippsburg. Just a few days ago, the Baden-Württemberg Administrative Court (VGH) gave the green light in an urgent procedure for them to be accommodated here in a massive hall.

In the coming days, the containers will be gradually transferred from the rail wagons to a road vehicle, the GNS said. They will then be brought one after the other to the interim fuel storage facility within the power plant site.

Since 2007, radioactive waste has been stored in an interim storage facility on the site of the now decommissioned nuclear power plant. 102 places are occupied. Apart from the four containers that have now been delivered, no more are to follow. The operation of the interim storage facility is currently approved until 2047. An extension is assumed due to the lack of a final storage facility.

There is still nuclear waste in England that is to be distributed to the interim storage facilities in Brokdorf (Schleswig-Holstein) and Isar (Bavaria). The transports have not yet been approved.

According to BGZ Gesellschaft für Zwischenlager mbH, the last Castor transport from abroad to Germany to date included six HAW28M containers. It led from the British reprocessing facility in Sellafield to Biblis in November 2020.

Castor is the abbreviation for the English name “cask for storage and transport of radioactive material”. The containers that are stored in Philippsburg are also of the HAW28M type (HAW = High Active Waste). This is a massive construction made of cast iron and stainless steel that weighs 115 tons when loaded.

According to the information, the outer walls are around 40 centimeters thick. A lid system made of solid steel lids meets the highest safety standards, so that the radioactive contents should be permanently and safely enclosed. The containers passed drop and fire tests as well as the explosion of a gas-filled tanker truck next to them.

28 so-called molds, cylindrical containers made of stainless steel, fit into each container. The radioactive waste was fused with silicate glass at around 1,100 degrees and filled here. The molds can each hold around 400 kilograms of glass mass.