Transport of Nuclear Waste Protested By German Activists Calling For Change

By Theodora Filis

About 20 million consignments of radioactive material, which may be either a single package or a number of packages sent from one location to another at the same time, take place around the world each year. Radioactive material is not unique to the nuclear fuel cycle and only about 5% of the consignments are fuel cycle related. Radioactive materials are used extensively in medicine, agriculture, research, manufacturing, non-destructive testing, and mineral exploration.

Nuclear energy has been unpopular in Germany since the fallout from the 1986 Chornobyl disaster in Ukraine drifted over the country. The annual shipment from France has been a traditional focal point for protesters. Traders told Reuters in April, that Germany temporarily shut down seven nuclear reactors in response to Fukushima.

Both Germany and the US have experienced large and effective anti-nuclear power movements. In the late 1970s German activists regularly traveled to places like Seabrook, New Hampshire, to learn non-violent action strategies. During the 1980s and early 1990s, however, both movements de-emphasized demonstrations for legal and political work. Both nations have chosen geological storage as their preferred high-level waste storage approach, but neither nation has been able to implement this option.

In Germany, the chosen site is a salt dome near the small farming community of Gorleben. As is the case everywhere a high-level waste dump has been proposed, this site has caused large-scale public opposition in the region, known as Wendland. In addition, the owner of much of the land above the dome is a leader of the opposition and has refused to sell his land to the government. For these reasons, and due to scientific concerns about the adequacy of the site, the Gorleben project is about as far behind schedule as Yucca Mountain is in the US, and faces the same type of uncertain future.

The major difference between the nuclear programs in Germany, and the US, is that Germany has attempted to begin an "interim" storage program, with disastrous results – so far.

This is the first shipment since Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to speed up shutting down all of Germany's nuclear plants, with the last one scheduled to go offline by 2022, following safety questions raised after the disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan. However, Germany, like most other nations using atomic power, has not yet decided where nuclear waste, which remains radioactive for thousands of years, should be stored permanently.

Nuclear fuel cycle facilities are located in various parts of the world and materials of many kinds need to be transported between them. Many of these are similar to materials used in other industrial activities. However, the nuclear industry's fuel and waste materials are radioactive, and it is nuclear materials that cause the most concern to the public.

"I think the sit-in is the most nonviolent form of blockades, and yes, I think it is going to be a success, definitely," protester Nico Nordlohne, 32, told reporters. Police estimated 800 people took part in the protest, while activists said about 1,000 had gathered.