Gorleben Castor Resistance in Germany 2011/indymedia article translation

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Castor 2011? Sawing, Removing Ballast, Scooping...!

Probably between 25 and 28 November 2011 another Castor transport with nuclear waste will be shipped from La Hague, France to the Lower Saxonian intermediate storage Gorleben, Germany. With a preliminary end of the nuclear power plant lifetime extension and the shutdown of some NPPs, the German Federal Government, by their standards, did quite a lot to pacify the German anti-nuclear movement that regained strength after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Germany is facing a energy turnaround say the news and the advertisements for the energy suppliers. This article explains the political backgrounds of the resistance in the Wendland region that doesn't calm down since decades, neither today. In addition, there will be and overview about possible forms of activism and necessary information about legal protection.

Political Backgrounds of the Anti-Castor Protests

When the Castor transport is shipped to Gorleben, different kinds of people will stand up against it. Over the last decades, nuclear transports to the Wendland region have turned into the biggest focal point of the anti-nuclear movement worldwide. They are the place where nuclear policy is most easily targetable, particularly because of the deep entrenchment of the protest movement in the Wendland region. Nearly the whole population, young and old, supports the movement. The lack of dogmatism is a very strong point of the resistance. It is also a good opportunity to draw attention to parts of anti-nulear politics that are not directly connected to Gorleben and are harder to attack than the Castor transport.

Uranium Mining, NPPS and "Reprocessing"

Final Disposal Issues / Gorleben as a Nuclear Disposal Site

Worldwide, there is no final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Likewise, this is hardly possible. Plutonium has a half life of 24,000 years. That means that it would need to be isolated securely from the environment for millions of years. A period of time that is hardly imaginable. No language, no symbol has existed even nearly for this time. To warn generations in 48,000 years, when 25% of the plutonium is still sending out radioactive rays, is very difficult. Not to speak of that for such a period of time, wherever you bury it, it is barely possible to ensure that nothing of the waste is released. In the repository ASSE only a few years where enough for ground water to make its way to radioactive waste, something that was considered to be unthinkable until then. With this background, to produce nuclear waste is irresponsible to all following generations. Gorleben is a good symbol for the problem that there is no secure final repository worldwide. The salt dome in Gorleben was not chosen because for instance it is the best suitable place in Germany, but because of "geopolitical reasons", as they say. In plain language: Gorleben was located near the border to the GDR. In addition to that, the area is sparsely populated and it was not expected that the rather conservative farmers could stand up. Now the farmers have been standing up and the GDR does not exist anymore – Gorleben however is still intended to be "investigated" just because it was begun with.


This translation is based upon the article Castor 2011? Sägen, Schottern, Schaufeln...! by "(((A)))" which was released under a creative commons licence on Indymedia Germany. Some small changes have been made to make it more understandable for international readers.