Nuclear waste shipments in Germany
Nuclear waste is transported in Germany for processing and interim storage. A concept for the so-called final disposal does not yet exist. The transports are regularly accompanied by demonstrations.
Transports of nuclear waste fall in particular
- the transport of spent fuel elements from German nuclear power plants for reprocessing abroad ( La Hague , France , or Sellafield , Great Britain ). Since July 1, 2005, the Atomic Energy Act has prohibited the transport of nuclear fuels from the commercial generation of electricity to reprocessing;
- the return transport of the radioactive waste generated during reprocessing from the reprocessing plants to Germany for interim storage (for example to the Ahaus nuclear waste storage facility or the Gorleben nuclear waste storage facility ); these will continue to be carried out in accordance with nuclear law obligations;
- Transport of low and medium level waste to conditioning facilities and interim storage facilities.
Approval and supervision of nuclear waste shipments
Until 2016, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) was responsible for approving the transport of nuclear waste . After the amendment of the Atomic Energy Act in 2016, the Federal Office for Nuclear Waste Disposal Safety (BfE) took over the approval of nuclear transports. The authority only approves transports if certain provisions of nuclear law and dangerous goods law are complied with. Transport containers are only approved after being checked by the BfS. The state authorities are responsible for supervising the transports. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection complies with the recommendations of the European Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) within the framework of the EURATOM contract.
In the case of transports by road, rail and by sea, it happens again and again that the regulations of the BfS are not complied with.
Protests against the transport of nuclear waste
In Germany there are regular demonstrations of the anti-nuclear movement against the transport of radioactive waste that is brought back to Germany from the La Hague reprocessing plant in France. In the future, such transports will also be used to return waste from Sellafield , Great Britain.
However, the opponents' criticism is not generally directed against the return of German nuclear waste to Germany. The protests are primarily directed against the continued production of further nuclear waste and especially against the planned Gorleben repository site , which is considered unsuitable. Due to the local protest tradition and the symbolic character, there are stronger protests during transports to the Gorleben interim storage facility than during transports from Germany to other countries, which were carried out until mid-2005.
In addition to these protests, there have been repeated acts of sabotage over the years, either directly or indirectly against the transport of nuclear waste. For example, signal boxes, railway contact lines (using hook claws ) and axle counters were sabotaged.
Transports to Gorleben
The Castor freight train
The Castor casks coming from the French reprocessing plant in La Hague between 1996 and 2011 were reloaded onto the freight wagons at the Areva loading station in Valognes . From there they reached Germany via the rail border crossings in Kehl , Lauterbourg or Forbach . Overall, the trains covered a distance of around 1200 kilometers. The covering of the Castor train took over in Germany on the entire train route to the loading station Dannenberg usually four specially equipped diesel locomotives of the 232 series .
A total of eight of these locomotives were prepared for these missions, for example with the option of installing protective grilles in front of the windows. The locomotives can also run when the overhead line is switched off and are protected from projectiles. Up to seven passenger cars followed behind the locomotive or locomotives in which police officers from the Federal Police accompanied the train. The containers with the nuclear waste then followed on flatbed wagons . This was followed by other passenger cars and one or two other locomotives. In this formation, the train was able to move both forwards and backwards without much effort.
The transports were organized by NCS Nuclear Cargo + Service GmbH, a subsidiary of the French Wollen SA. A helicopter often flew ahead of the train in Germany to monitor the route . In addition, the train followed mostly in the block distance a Lokzug with further diesel locomotives as a reserve ( Angstlok ). On the Lüneburg – Dannenberg railway line , there was a rail replacement service in passenger traffic at that time due to the massive protests against the Castor transport .
history
The first Castor transport to the Gorleben interim storage facility was carried out in April 1995 . With this, as with all others, the Castor containers were transported by rail to the Dannenberg loading station . There they were loaded onto trucks to be driven across the street to the Gorleben interim storage facility. The transport was accompanied by 4,000 demonstrators on the last section in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district, and 7,600 police officers protected the transport. The third Castor transport in May 1997 was protected by 30,000 police officers.
In the spring of 1998 it became known that radiation far above the permissible limit values had been measured on several transport containers (no Castor containers) for years due to external contamination. As a result, the then acting Environment Minister Angela Merkel temporarily stopped the transports in May 1998. In the following weeks it was published that the Ministry of Environment and the responsible department for radiation protection under the direction of Gerald Hennenhöfer had known about the increased radiation levels for years. This handling of the cargo of nuclear waste, known as a contamination scandal, was criticized far beyond the anti-nuclear energy movement. For example, the police union spoke of inhuman behavior. In January 2000, the Castor transports were resumed under the Green Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin .
During the eighth Castor transport from La Hague to the Gorleben interim storage facility, an attempted blockade on November 7, 2004 resulted in an accident with fatalities. In the vicinity of Avricourt ( Lorraine ), shortly before the German border, the 22-year-old Sébastien Briat was thrown onto the track by the pull of the non-braking train, with both legs being severed. The train driver could not see the protest group in time because the action took place in a curve. Sébastien Briat succumbed to his injuries on site. The train drove without aerial surveillance because the only helicopter used for it was refueling.
In September 2005, an increased level of radiation from external contamination was found on five containers with low-level radioactive waste from the Krümmel nuclear power plant during the incoming inspection at the Gorleben waste storage facility . The values exceeded the permissible limit of four Becquerel per square centimeter, in some cases by five times. According to the responsible Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment, there was no risk to the population or staff at any time, since the transport takes place in closed transport containers.
In November 2008, the eleventh transport of nuclear waste was carried out from La Hague to Gorleben. Due to the lack of approval for the further developed German type HAW28M , this transport was formed from eleven containers of the French type TN 85 .
Due to the approval problems for the new Castor type HAW28M, the federal government postponed the next planned Castor transport from November 2009 to November 2010.
The twelfth transport consisted for the first time of ten Castor containers of the further developed type HAW28M, which had received approval from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection on January 29, 2010 , and a container of the TN 85 type. This transport took place between November 5 and November 9 , 2010 . November 2010, a good week after the Bundestag decided on October 28, 2010 to extend the service life of German nuclear power plants . It was accompanied by strong protests and was the transport that took the longest time from La Hague to the Gorleben interim storage facility.
The 13th transport started on November 23, 2011 at around 4 p.m. in Valognes in northern France. It consisted of eleven Castor containers of the Castor HAW28M type. For the first time, there were clashes between demonstrators and the police during the loading in France. The travel time of the train was over five days and, due to numerous disruptive actions by the opponents of nuclear power, it was much longer than in all previous Castor transports. This transport was the last from the La Hague reprocessing plant to Gorleben.
Overview
| number | Origin of the Castor containers | Number of containers | Arrival in Gorleben | Transport time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philippsburg nuclear power plant | 1 | April 25, 1995 | |
| 2 | La Hague reprocessing plant | 1 | May 8, 1996 | |
| 3 |
Nuclear power plant Neckarwestheim , Gundremmingen nuclear power plant , La Hague |
3 1 2 |
March 5, 1997 | |
| 4th | La Hague | 6th | March 29, 2001 | 3 days, 2 hours |
| 5 | La Hague | 6th | November 14, 2001 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| 6th | La Hague | 12 | November 14, 2002 | 2 days, 13 hours |
| 7th | La Hague | 12 | November 12, 2003 | 2 days, 10 hours |
| 8th | La Hague | 12 | November 9, 2004 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| 9 | La Hague | 12 | November 22, 2005 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| 10 | La Hague | 12 | November 13, 2006 | 2 days, 10 hours |
| 11 | La Hague | 11 | November 11, 2008 | 3 days, 8 hours |
| 12 | La Hague | 11 | November 9, 2010 | 3 days, 20 hours |
| 13 | La Hague | 11 | November 28, 2011 | 5 days, 6 hours |
Transports to the interim storage facility North, Greifswald
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Since the end of 2010, radioactive waste from the old federal states has also been stored in the interim storage facility north , located in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania near Greifswald , which was originally only intended to receive the radioactive waste from the decommissioned nuclear power plants Greifswald-Lubmin and Rheinsberg . The first transport train with four Castor containers from the southern French nuclear research center Cadarache , where 2500 fuel rods from a decommissioned research reactor in Karlsruhe and from the former nuclear-powered research ship Otto Hahn , started on December 14, 2010 and reached Lubmin on December 16, 2010. The second transport with five containers containing 56 tons of nuclear waste in glass canisters, it started in the former Karlsruhe reprocessing plant on February 17, 2011 and reached its destination after 28 hours, where it was blocked several times along the way. According to Interior Minister Lorenz Caffier , no further transports of nuclear waste to the north interim storage facility are planned.
Transports to the Ahaus nuclear waste storage facility
In 1994 305 castors with spherical fuel elements were transported from the THTR-300 to Ahaus.
In November 2008 the Supervisory Board of Forschungszentrum Jülich FZJ decided to bring the spherical fuel elements of the AVR Jülich that had previously been stored in Jülich to the Ahaus nuclear waste storage facility . 152 transports with special trucks are required for this. A transport permit from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection is required for transport . This is not yet available. A permit for storage is available. An application by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia to waive this and instead make the camp in Jülich safer was rejected. There are regular protests in front of the nuclear waste dump.
Further transports
| number | Origin of the Castor containers | Number of containers | Target the container | Arrivals | Transport time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Obrigheim nuclear power plant | 3 | Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant | June 28, 2017 | 13 hours |
| 2 | Obrigheim nuclear power plant | 3 | Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant | 6th September 2017 | 10.5 hours |
| 3 | Obrigheim nuclear power plant | 3 | Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant | October 11, 2017 | 11 hours |
| 4th | Obrigheim nuclear power plant | 3 | Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant | 16th November 2017 | 11 hours |
| 5 | Obrigheim nuclear power plant | 3 | Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant | 19th December 2017 | 13 hours |
Transports to France
On February 4, 1997, a train with spent fuel elements derailed from the Emsland nuclear power plant in the French border town of Apach .
Planned transports
26 castor containers are to be transported between 2019 and 2021. This includes a transport from La Hague to the Philippsburg nuclear power plant of five containers and three transports of seven containers each (21 in total) from Sellafield to the Biblis nuclear power plant , Brokdorf nuclear power plant and Isar nuclear power plant . A transport from Garching to Ahaus is also planned for 2019 .
A Castor transport from Sellafield to the Biblis interim storage facility planned at the beginning of April 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany in order to avoid infections among the 6,000 police officers required to protect the transport.
See also
Web links
- Nuclear power plants Plague: Transport of radioactive substances
Individual evidence
- ↑ § 9a Paragraph 1 Atomic Energy Act
- ↑ Transport of Radioactive Substances - Introduction. ( Memento from August 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Office for Radiation Protection, accessed on August 12, 2012
- ↑ International cooperation. ( Memento from August 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Office for Radiation Protection, accessed on August 12, 2012
- ↑ Some of these incidents are listed under: Transport of radioactive substances. In: AtomkraftwerkePlag
- ^ Gorleben: Castor train to Wendland. In: contratom.de
- ↑ Eichsfeld2011: See video: Castor Transport drives through the train station in Einbeck Salzderhelden November 26, 2011 - 10:05 am. November 26, 2011, accessed November 27, 2011 .
- ↑ The Castor scandal shows: self-regulation of the nuclear industry is not enough. In: time online
- ↑ The nuclear industry is inhumane. Police Union
- ↑ Castor opponent was no longer chained in the accident. In: Spiegel Online , November 13, 2004
- ↑ Greenpeace Magazine 2.05 , accessed on November 9, 2010
- ↑ a b c Castor-Transport: The new HAW 28 M is stored for the first time. In: Elbe-Jeetzel-Zeitung
- ↑ GNS: Storage permit for the CASTOR® HAW28M granted ( Memento of March 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Activists fix trucks on the Castor route. ( Memento from November 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Greenpeace.de
- ↑ a b The previous transports. In: Spiegel Online , November 9, 2001:
- ↑ 1996: First charge from La Hague. In: spiegel.tv
- ↑ Everything about the Castor. In: Spiegel Online , March 29, 2001
- ↑ a b c d Background: The longest Castor transports. In: focus.de , November 8, 2010
- ↑ Nuclear waste arrived in Gorleben. In: Spiegel Online , November 14, 2001
- ↑ Nuclear waste at the destination. In: Spiegel Online , November 14, 2002
- ^ Castor transport arrived in Gorleben. In: Spiegel Online , November 12, 2003
- ↑ Castor transport arrived in Gorleben in record time. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , November 12, 2003
- ↑ Castor transport reaches Gorleben. In: Spiegel Online , November 9, 2004
- ↑ Castor transport arrived at the interim storage facility after 60 hours. In: Braunschweiger Zeitung , November 9, 2004
- ↑ Castor transport reaches Gorleben. In: Spiegel Online , November 22, 2005
- ↑ Ninth Castor transport arrived at its destination after 60 hours. In: Braunschweiger Zeitung , November 22, 2005
- ↑ Police clear the way for Castor. In: Spiegel Online , November 13, 2006
- ↑ Castor transport reaches repository after violent protests. In: Spiegel Online , November 11, 2008
- ↑ The Castor reaches its destination. In: Spiegel Online , November 9, 2010
- ↑ Castor transport reaches Gorleben. In: Spiegel Online , November 28, 2011
- ↑ fz-juelich.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. There it says u. a .: “The construction of a new interim storage facility in Jülich would require investments of at least 40 million euros. In addition, this storage facility would have to be operated, managed and guarded for several decades with a high expenditure of personnel and costs until the fuel elements can be delivered to a repository. The costs for operation and personnel would amount to around 180 million euros during this time. This tax money was also lost to research. "
- ^ Protest against Castor convoys through NRW. In: Rheinsche Post , December 2, 2011, page 1
- ↑ NRW Greens: Castor Transport announced the fight. In: RP online , November 4, 2011
- ^ Protests against Ahaus. In: welt.de , October 20, 1997, accessed on October 13, 2017
- ↑ Transporting nuclear waste on the Neckar - Castor ship has reached its destination. In: Spiegel Online , June 29, 2017, accessed October 13, 2017
- ↑ Nuclear waste reaches intermediate storage facilities on the Neckar by ship. In: wn.de , September 6, 2017, accessed on October 13, 2017
- ↑ Alexander Klug: Castor transport reaches Neckarwestheim. In: Stimme.de , October 11, 2017, accessed on October 13, 2017
- ↑ http://www.stimme.de/heilbronn/nachrichten/region/Castor-Transport-erreich-Neckarwestheim;art140897,3940833
- ↑ https://www.enbw.com/unternehmen/presse/pressemitteilungen/presse-detailseite_175937.html
- ↑ Answer of the Federal Government to the Minor Inquiry 'Safety of Nuclear Transports' - Printed matter 13/6949 -
- ↑ Editor: Nuclear waste will not come back before 2019. In: neue-deutschland.de. January 27, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017 .
- ↑ Bavaria feels ignored in the concept of nuclear waste. In: zeit.de , June 19, 2015, accessed on October 13, 2017
- ^ First Castor transport with fuel elements from Garching . In: sueddeutsche.de . August 7, 2018, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed February 2, 2019]).
- ↑ Matthias Bartsch, Annette Bruhns, Jürgen Dahlkamp, Michael Fröhlingsdorf, Hubert Gude, Dietmar Hipp, Julia Jüttner, Veit Medick, Lydia Rosenfelder, Jonas Schaible, Cornelia Schmergal, Ansgar Siemens, Lukas Stern, Steffen Winter: Geisterhand . In: Der Spiegel . No. 12 , 2020, p. 28-32 ( Online - Mar. 14, 2020 ).
