Nuclear waste protest in Gorleben (archive image)
Photo: Philipp Schulze / dpa
For the decision on a new nuclear waste repository, Lower Saxony's Environment Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) insisted on a transparent selection process involving the citizens.
The publication of suitable sub-areas for the new repository is eagerly awaited this Monday in Berlin.
Lies said that people would have to receive the information they need to critically examine the location search.
Politicians should not torpedo the social consensus for a science-based search process by making preliminary determinations.
Due to its geological occurrence, Lower Saxony will be represented on the sub-area map of the Federal Agency for Final Storage, said Lies.
"In the selection process, Gorleben is treated like any other possible location in Germany," said the minister.
It is irresponsible that Bavaria is already withdrawing from the consensus of all federal states to look for a nuclear repository with no results.
Bavaria's Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (Free Voters) had called the selection process unnecessary because Gorleben was already a suitable location.
"However, the selection process must include and consider all potentially suitable locations in the Federal Republic, no federal state can politically avoid it," replied Lies.
The difficult search for a final repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste, which could affect hundreds of thousands of people, is primarily about 1900 Castor containers with around 27,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste, which will become the radiant legacy of the atom after the nuclear phase-out decided on at the end of 2022 Era will form.
Most of them are currently in aboveground interim storage facilities, including at the previous Akw, but also in Gorleben, Ahaus and Lubmin.
"Ambitious schedule"
For the search for a repository, after a long dispute, especially in the conflict over the plans in Gorleben in Lower Saxony, a consensus on the search procedure was decided.
On this basis, the repository search law was passed in 2017.
A location decision is to be made by 2031 in a transparent, science-based process.
The political decision then ultimately rests with the Bundestag.
According to this planning, an operational repository can be expected from 2050.
However, this is an "ambitious schedule in view of the many imponderables", emphasizes the head of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (Base), Wolfram König.
In spite of all transparency, it is also clear: "There will be resistance" against the location ultimately selected.
It has already become apparent that large areas of Germany could be classified as potential nuclear waste storage facilities.
There will be a "high double-digit number" of sub-areas, according to the BGE.
Strict selection criteria
The criteria for selection are strict.
The highly radioactive nuclear waste should be stored safely at least 300 meters below the earth's surface for a million years if possible.
Its retrievability should be ensured for a period of 500 years in order to enable future generations to use new technologies.
Distances to residential areas or to "outstanding natural or cultural assets" are also specified.
The rock formations for a repository are salt, clay or granite.
Even this determination was politically sensitive, since salt, for example, is more likely to be found in northern Germany, and granite is more common, especially in Bavaria.
Formations that are no longer untouched - where there are already mines - as well as regions with volcanism or the danger of earthquakes are excluded.
Gorleben is to be treated in the same way as all other possible locations.
Search three phases
The interim report, initially drawn up solely on the basis of available geological data, will be discussed intensively in the coming months with the involvement of the public.
There will be a series of specialist conferences until June, the first on October 17 and 18 in Kassel.
The possibility of online participation is also provided.
The Bundestag then decides how to proceed.
In a second phase, investigations are then to be carried out in regions classified as suitable on site, for example through exploratory drilling.
The areas in question are further narrowed down.
For the first time, legal action against the resulting shortlist is also possible before the Federal Administrative Court.
The process is to be accompanied by regional conferences.
A third phase then also includes the construction of exploration mines in at least two locations in order to prepare the specific location decision.
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) sees the process on the right track.
The report represents the "first widely visible progress in the search for a repository," said the editorial network in Germany.
It will show "that the jointly agreed procedure is effective".
Icon: The mirror
kig / dpa / AFP