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Nuclear Waste Nears Storage Dump In Germany Amid Protests
Berlin (AFP) Nov 13, 2006 A shipment of 175 tonnes of highly radioactive nuclear waste neared its destination in northern Germany on Sunday despite being forced to interrupt its two-day journey from France several times. Police lined the tracks as the train carrying the 12 containers of re-processed waste rolled slowly into the town of Dannenberg at about 3:30 pm (1430 GMT). It was to be loaded onto trucks to complete the final 20 kilometres (12 miles) of the journey to a storage dump in the town of Gorleben. The waste was expected to reach its final destination on Monday morning. Several hundred demonstrators staged a brief sit-in to block the road between Dannenberg and Gorleben, but police moved them out of the way and secured the road. The anti-nuclear group "X-tausendmal quer" claimed its members had caused the disruption. The train was temporarily stopped after activists from the environmental organization Robin Wood chained themselves to a rope strung between trees either side of the track near Dannenberg. Police had earlier removed about 200 demonstrators from railway lines in Germany. Some 16,000 police were mobilised to protect the train as it edged through Germany after leaving the reprocessing plant at La Hague in northwest France on Friday, while helicopters were being used to check the route. Up to 6,000 environmentalist militants, according to figures supplied by protest groups, demonstrated in Gorleben at the weekend, calling for this type of transport to be abolished and for the storage centre to be shut. The nuclear transports have traditionally been a focus of protests, although they have been less chaotic in recent years than at their peak in the 1990s. A 22-year-old Frenchman was killed in 2004 when he was run over by a train in the French city of Nancy as he demonstrated against a shipment. This is the 10th transport of the nuclear waste which is produced by German power plants but sent to France because Germany has no re-processing facilities. Germany is contractually obliged to take the waste back, but activists argue that Gorleben, which was selected in 1977 as a temporary storage site, is unsafe. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday that other locations for storing nuclear waste should be considered. "The people in this region are protesting, because they have the feeling that the Gorleben dump has been pre-determined," Gabriel said. The transports are scheduled to continue until 2010.
earlier related report The train carrying the waste was edging its way through northern Germany from France and was due to arrive in the town of Dannenberg on Sunday afternoon. From there, the 12 containers of highly radioactive re-processed waste were to be loaded on to trucks to complete the final 20 kilometres (12 miles) of its journey to the dump in the town of Gorleben. The anti-nuclear group "X-tausendmal quer" said about 1,000 of its members had managed to foil police guarding the road from Dannenberg to Gorleben and stage a sit-in. "Despite the big police presence we have once again succeeded in reaching the road," said Jochen Stay, a spokesman for the group. Police had earlier removed about 200 demonstrators from railway lines in Germany. Between 3,000 and 6,000 environmentalist militants, according to police and organisers, were demonstrating at the final destination of the waste, calling for this type of transport to be abolished and for the storage centre to be shut. Demonstrators forced the train to stop several times after it left the reprocessing plant at La Hague in northwest France on Friday. Some 16,000 police have been mobilised to protect the train as it moves through Germany. A policeman and three demonstrators were injured in clashes in Germany on Friday before the train had even begun its journey. The nuclear transports have traditionally been a focus of protests, although in recent years they have been less chaotic than in the 1990s. Two years ago, a 22-year-old Frenchman was killed as he demonstrated against a shipment when he was run over by a train in the French city of Nancy. This is the 10th transport of the nuclear waste produced by German power plants but sent to France because Germany has no re-processing facilities. Activists argue that the Gorleben site is unsafe.
earlier related report It had left the French reprocessing plant at La Hague in the far northwest of the country on Friday evening bound for Gorleben in northern Germany where the waste is to be stored. The 12 containers of vitrified waste crossed the border at Lauterbourg in Alsace just before 5:00 pm (1600 GMT), several hours late because of demonstrations along the route. It is not due to reach Gorleben, more than 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of Lauterbourg, until Monday morning. During the day between 3,000 and 6,000 environmentalist militants, according to police and organisers, demonstrated at Gorleben - already home to 68 containers of the same type -- calling for the end of this type of transport and the closing of the storage centre. Some 16,000 police have been mobilised to protect the train as it moves through Germany. While in France it had been blocked on Friday night near the station at Sequeux, in the northwest, by a group of about 10 anti-nuclear demonstrators who were close to the track. Saturday afternoon it was diverted to pass through Metz and not Nancy, both major northeastern French cities, with anti-nuclear activists claiming that the organisers of the convoy wanted to avoid Nancy where about 30 demonstrators were waiting for it and had briefly deposited a coffin on a bridge over the station. It also bypassed Avricourt, where Sebastien Briat, 22, who had chained himself to the track, was struck and killed by a train transporting nuclear waste on November 7, 2004. As the train passed through Hoenheim, near the French frontier city of Strasbourg, about 20 demonstrators laid roses on a level crossing in memory of "all the victims of civil and military nuclear power" and of Briat. French police were present, while a helicopter flew overhead, but did not intervene.
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NNSA Boosts Low Grade Nuke Fuel Program
Washington (UPI) Nov 08, 2006A U.S. nuclear safety agency announced Wednesday it was expanding its low-grade nuclear fuel program. The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration said in a statement that it was pushing ahead with President George W. Bush's program "to provide reliable access to nuclear fuel for civilian reactors to countries that refrain from pursuing their own enrichment and reprocessing technologies. |
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