Nuclear Waste Transport to Ahaus

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overview on planned Castor transports in Germany[1]
place of departure -> destination number of Castor casks possible year of transport comment
Obrigheim -> Neckarwestheim[2] 15 Castor casks 2017 transport by ship on Neckar river;
Obrigheim NPP was closed on May 11, 2005
[3]
1st transport started on June 26th, 2017[4]
2nd transport started on September 4th, 2017[5]
La Hague -> Phillipsburg 5 Castor casks from 2018
Jülich -> Ahaus 152 Castor casks from 2018[6]
Garching -> Ahaus 5 Castor casks from 2018
Sellafield -> Brokdorf 7 Castor casks 2018, 2019 or 2020
Sellafield -> Biblis 7 Castor casks 2018, 2019 or 2020
Sellafield -> Ohu 7 Castor casks 2018, 2019 or 2020


  • transports of high level and other radioactive waste to the temporary repository in Ahaus (D) had been announced already for the beginning of 2012 (in April 2012 "postponed" probably because of the protests), partly in Castor-like containers, including nuclear materials from several German nuclear facilities - latest (summer 2016) information indicates the shipments could take place quite soon[7][8]
    • shipments of 152 Castor casks with 288,161 high level radioactive waste pebbles (spherical fuel elements) of the former very high temperature reactor (VHTR) AVR Jülich from the research center in Jülich (D) to the interim repository in Ahaus (D) are canceled as of November 2012 (instead of firstly announced for early 2012 and later for October 2012)[9]. They were[10] supposed to be exported to the USA[11] - allowed by a new final disposal law confirmed by the German Bundesrat on July 5th, 2013[12]. Eventually, it now seems to be possible that the high level nuclear waste will be brought to the Ahaus repository as originally announced[10]
    • on July 21st, 2016 the federal authority BfS granted Ahaus repository a license upgrade to host the Jülich waste, too - after granting a transport permission for these Castor containers, which hasn't been done yet, the shipment formally could be started[13][8]
    • as decided on November 30th[14], they are supposed to be shipped in convois of two Castor casks each transport - 76 shipments within a supposed time frame of 1 1/2 years[9] - there would be a need of nearly weekly shipments of 6 trucks
    • first transports were announced for the beginning of 2010, but were postponed
  • transports of high level radioactive waste from research reactors in Berlin, Munich (possibly in 2018[7]), and Mainz in a Castor MTR2 container (the same container type used in 2005 for the shipment from Rossendorf to Ahaus, and that was supposed to be used for a 2010 shipment to Russia)[15]
  • transports of medium level radioactive waste CSD-C coquilles in 150 TGC 36 casks from the so-called "reprocessing unit" (plutonium factory) La Hague is expected by 2021[16] (earlier: 2014[17][18])
  • transports of low and medium level radioactive waste from several places like the nuclear waste conditioning plant in Duisburg are going on - as of November 2012 50 of these transports took place by truck this year already
    • A first "test shipment" took place during the 11th week (March 12-18, 2012)
  • the transport of high level radioactive waste from Ahaus (D) to Russia that was proposed to be done on December 16/17, 2010[19] has been cancelled as a result of massive protests[20] German
  • more information:


  • past events:
    • Autobahn action day and afterwards manifestation at the research center Jülich on February 25, 2012
    • start-up rally of the protests on December 18, 2011 at 2 PM at the repository in Ahaus (D)
    • demonstration on November 21, 2010 at 2 PM at the repository in Ahaus (D)


  1. http://anti-atom-aktuell.de/castor/3.html as of October 13, 2016
  2. https://neckarwestheim.antiatom.net/blog/1299-kein-castor-transport-von-obrigheim-nach-neckarwestheim as of November 1, 2016
  3. https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kernkraftwerk_Obrigheim&oldid=158341416 as of October 13, 2016
  4. https://www.neckar-castorfrei.de/informiert-sein/newsletter/178-castor-voralarm as of June 26, 2017
  5. https://www.neckar-castorfrei.de/informiert-sein/news-berichte/250-castor-alarm-im-september as at September 4, 2017
  6. .ausgestrahlt informiert: Atommüll auf dem Neckar. Fragen und Antworten zu den geplanten Castor-Transporten vom AKW Obrigheim zum AKW Neckarwestheim; January 2017
  7. 7.0 7.1 see e.g. press release "Dreifache Atommüll-Bedrohung für Ahaus und Gronau"
  8. 8.0 8.1 http://www.bfs.de/DE/themen/ne/zwischenlager/zentral/ahaus/ahaus.html as at August 4, 2016
  9. 9.0 9.1 http://de.indymedia.org/2011/12/321158.shtml as at December 3, 2011
  10. 10.0 10.1 http://www.kein-castor-nach-ahaus.de/2013/09/09/westcastoren-doch-nach-ahaus-j%C3%BClicher-forschungszentrum-und-politik-heillos-%C3%BCberfordert/ as at November 28, 2013
  11. for latest developments as of summer 2016 see e.g. media release "US DOE Panel: No German Spent Fuel to SRS (from Juelich and Ahaus)"
  12. http://www.ausgestrahlt.de/atommuellexport as at July 8, 2013
  13. http://www.wn.de/Muensterland/2467507-152-Castor-Behaelter-Genehmigung-erteilt-Atommuell-aus-Juelich-darf-nach-Ahaus as at August 4, 2016
  14. http://www.contratom.de/2011/12/01/autobahn-castoren-aus-julich-sollen-rollen as at Devember 3, 2011
  15. email of Aktionsbündnis Münsterland gegen Atomanlagen as of May 5, 2013
  16. lecture by Wolfgang Neumann at Atommüllkonferenz in Hannover, June 23, 2012
  17. Accoring to a booklet of Deutsches Atomforum, the lobby organization of the German nuclear industry: "Die Rücknahme von Wiederaufarbeitungsabfällen aus Frankreich und Großbritannien. Transport und Zwischenlagerung von Glaskokillen" as at January 19, 2012
  18. http://www.anti-atom-aktuell.de/archiv/186/186ahaus.html as at January 19, 2012
  19. see http://www.contratom.de/2.0/index.php?mod=blog&artikel=1489 - December 8, 2010
  20. http://www.contratom.de/2.0/index.php?mod=blog&artikel=1523 - December 8, 2010