Saturday, October 18, 2014

Where Shall We Store Our Radioactive Waste?

From September 20 to 22, 2014 the Deutsch-Schweizer Fachverband für Strahlenschutz (Swiss-German Radiation Protection Association) held a symposium in Mainz dealing with the topic: Zwischenlager - Dauerlager - Endlager: Wohin mit unserem radioaktiven Abfall? (Intermediate, permanent and final storage: Where shall we store our radioactive waste?)



After fourteen years of absence from the radiation protection scene, Red Baron took the ICE train to Mainz, ordering, as usual, the pot of coffee and the notorious Butterkuchen. While waiting to be served, I opened my iPad to read the latest Badische Zeitung (BZ) edition online. I quickly passed over national and international political news I had already read from other sources and concentrated on Freiburg's locals.

When I opened the page with the letters to the editor, I was shocked reading the title: Sie sollen den radioaktiven Müll in ihre Gärten oder Parkanlagen aufnehmen (They should take the radioactive waste to store it in their gardens and parks). In his letter to the BZ, the writer accused operators, banks, shareholders, and politicians of being the profiteers of atomic energy while downplaying the radioactive waste produced in nuclear power reactors. The author suggested that these people shall prove that radioactivity is as harmless as they are propagating. They should be forced to live in atomic ghettos loaded with radioactive waste, where they shall eat their homegrown vegetables. It is not fair that some people had earned big money with electricity produced by nuclear power while we, who had nothing to say, must now take the rap for it.

The word "ghetto" reminded me of Germany's darkest past and drove me nuts. I started drafting an answer immediately. However, considering that anger is a bad counselor, I decided to wait for the outcome of the symposium before writing a letter to the BZ.

In 1962 Germany's first nuclear power plant in Kahl was connected to the grid, and since then, everybody and not only nuclear reactor operators, has profited from the electricity produced. When Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his Atomminister Franz Josef Strauß propagated Atoms for Peace in my country in 1955, they found broad societal support. 

As time went by, more nuclear power stations were built and produced electricity without endangering the population until 2011. In that year, the Federal Government, shocked by the Fukushima catastrophe, decided the phasing out nuclear energy in Germany. Now the installations that have already shut down and those still to be decommissioned must be stripped down, and the radioactive material be safely disposed of. To finance this work, operators of the nuclear power stations had to build up reserves over the years that now amount to several billion euros.

Before the symposium started, the executive board of the Fachverband gave a press conference with Red Baron sitting in the back listening. Presently spent fuel elements and other radioactive materials are safely kept in intermediate storage near the reactor stations. The radioactivity is cooling down and waiting for the final storage we all need. Even people who have always opposed nuclear power must admit that our generation, having profited from atomic energy, must clean up the radioactivity and not leave the job to our descendants. 

Germany needs a final repository. The next day a well-balanced article in the Rhein-Main Presse had the attention-grabbing headline: Wohin mit dem radioaktiven Gift? (Where to place the radioactive poison?). The author wanted to ensure people read his column but somewhat spoiled the issue.

Indeed, the question is, where can we find places to safely store material that still presents a hazard after more than 100,000 years? Such a choice needs our consent and that of future generations. Germans stoke their Angst and trust their Bauchgefühl (gut feeling), so reaching the same general consent on a repository as in the case of nuclear power entry and exit will be challenging.

The Federal Government has set up a commission of 33 persons to deal with the deposition of highly-radioactive waste according to the Standortauswahlgesetz (Law for selecting a site). The German government called scientists, environmental associations, representatives of the Churches!!, economy, trade unions, members of parliament, and state governments into the commission to find a consensus on a site until December 31, 2015. In their initial sessions, the commission members lost their time on points of order, so I wonder if they will meet the deadline set by the government.

I finally composed and sent my letter to the editor. I got a reaction in which the writer nicely ducked the issue of the safe depository. Instead, he started his letter with a general discussion on nuclear energy, mentioning the victims who had died from incorporating radioactivity while mining uranium or reprocessing fuel elements. Further on, he denounced reactor research that is still performed in Germany. He had definitely opened a can of nuclear worms, or shall I say Pandora's Atomic Box?

Remember: I had only asked for national consent on a depository for highly radioactive waste, a safe site to bury our sins (?) of the past.
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