MOX transports to Germany

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MOX shipments to Germany have been used to move MOX fuel elements from the British reprocessing plant Sellafield and the French reprocessing plant La Hague to German nuclear power plants since around the 1990s . The transports from Great Britain take place by sea over the North Sea to Nordenham and in Germany by land . Nuclear power opponents criticize these transports because of their possible dangerousness and have protested several times on parts of the transport route since 2012.

Road blockade with tractors and trailers in front of the Grohnde nuclear power plant against an expected MOX transport (2012)

MOX technology

The with uranium as a nuclear fuel -powered nuclear reactors produced plutonium that to MOX fuel as a sort of second-hand -Brennstoff reprocessed can be. A reprocessing of nuclear fuel for the production of MOX fuel was originally planned in Germany, but took place mainly in Great Britain and France until the general export ban in 2005. Recycled MOX fuel elements are nowadays used in many German nuclear power plants and are considered economical, but also as risky. The term MOX is the short form for mixed oxide fuel element (MOX = mixed oxide). In nuclear technology, this is the term used to describe fuel elements which, in contrast to fuel elements made from pure uranium dioxide, contain another oxide . Usually it is plutonium dioxide . Since plutonium is far more dangerous than uranium because of its higher level of radioactivity, significantly greater safety precautions must be taken when handling the MOX elements.

Originally, it was planned in the 1980s that the Wackersdorf reprocessing plant in Upper Palatinate would become the central reprocessing plant (WAA) for spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors in Germany . After violent protests, construction was stopped in 1989. In the same year Germany and France signed contracts for a joint reprocessing plant in La Hague and on January 18, 1990 the model contracts with Great Britain for reprocessing in Sellafield / Windscale. For the nuclear waste exported from Germany on the basis of the contractual basis and reprocessed abroad, there is an obligation to take back, which leads to the MOX transports to Germany.

Transports to Germany

MOX fuel elements are transported in special trucks from French and British reprocessing plants by ship and by road to German nuclear power plants. In Germany, the transports are organized by the respective operating energy companies as well as the interior ministries of the federal states, their environment ministries and the respective state police .

Protest poster on a street near Grohnde

In previous years, probably since the 1990s, there were more MOX shipments to Germany. According to the energy company E.ON, there were 51 land transports between 2007 and 2011. There was also a shipment by sea, such as a shipment to Bremerhaven for the Unterweser nuclear power plant . These transports were not made public and were largely ignored. These only became public knowledge in 2009, when the port cities of Cuxhaven and Bremerhaven refused to allow the potentially dangerous cargo to be unloaded in their port facilities during a planned sea transport . Since then, shipping has taken place via a port in Nordenham, for which the special freighter Atlantic Osprey is used. Before it arrives, the freighter switches off its Automatic Identification System (AIS), which identifies ships at sea. According to the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection , however, the ship must switch its AIS signal back on as soon as it reaches Lower Saxony's waters.

During transport at sea, the waterway police receive the ship in the German EEZ and guide it to Nordenham. A large number of police, on water and on land, were busy protecting the transports in the past. Used came several applications Hundreds of police in Nordenham, on arrival in Grohnde and along the route. The police in Oldenburg took over the management of the multi-day operations.

Known transports

1996

2012

Criticism and protests

Protests in front of the Grohnde nuclear power plant against an upcoming MOX transport (2012)

Opponents of the transports warn that the MOX fuel elements in the wrong hands could trigger a disaster. According to the environmental protection organization Greenpeace , a nuclear weapon can be built by experts from the radioactive material it contains. The fuel elements destined for the Grohnde nuclear power plant during transport in November 2012 contain more than 300 kilograms of plutonium, according to environmentalists. This is enough to build around 40 nuclear weapons. In addition to the safety aspects, the opponents fear an extension of the service life of German nuclear power plants as a result of the reprocessing .

Several hundred people from environmental organizations and citizens' groups took part in the protest actions against the implementation of two MOX transports in Germany in 2012. There were sit-ins and attempted blockages. In the vicinity of the Grohnde nuclear power plant, the Weserbergland farmers' initiative against nuclear energy, with the support of the rural emergency community Lüchow-Dannenberg, blocked access to the nuclear power plant at several points using tractors . In Nordenham, Greenpeace tried to reach and stop the transport freighter with rubber dinghies .

outlook

The energy company E.ON, as the operator of nuclear power plants, stated in 2012 that it wanted to take back 60 mixed oxide fuel elements (MOX) from La Hague in France . They are to be brought to the Brokdorf nuclear power plant in Schleswig-Holstein and the Isar nuclear power plant in Bavaria. These transports are to be carried out by land. At the Emsland nuclear power plant in Lingen in Lower Saxony, MOX fuel elements from Sellafield should no longer be used, explained the operator RWE , but from reprocessing in La Hague. These are also used in the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant in Bavaria . In total, around 100 MOX transports to Germany are to take place in the coming years, including returns from other energy companies.

literature

Web links

Commons : MOX transports in Germany  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ MOX - a high-risk second-hand fuel ( memento from September 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), in: Tagesschau.de from September 24, 2012.
  2. ↑ Mox fuel elements: e.on surprised licensing authority , in: Dewezet of February 8, 2011.
  3. ↑ a b Special session on MOX transports ( memento from September 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), in: ndr.de from September 17, 2012.
  4. ↑ Current state of affairs and forecasts for MOX transport at contratom.de.
  5. ↑ Below limit values ​​for MOX transport ( Memento from November 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), in: ndr.de from September 25, 2012.
  6. ↑ E.ON is planning further plutonium transports ( memento of May 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), in: ndr.de of November 19, 2012.
  7. ↑ Fuel elements reach Nordenham at the weekend , in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of September 21, 2012.
  8. ^ Mox fuel elements: Operators of nuclear power plants still expect around 100 deliveries , in: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung of September 19, 2012.