Gorleben
Encyclopedia
Gorleben is a small municipality (Gemeinde) in the Gartow
region of the Lüchow-Dannenberg
district
in the far north-east of Lower Saxony
, Germany
, a region also known as the Wendland
.
Gorleben was first recorded as a town by the rulers of Dannenberg
in 1360; there was a fort on the site. The name "Gorleben" probably comes from Goor ("silt
"; in Slavic, however, Gor means "mountain") and leben ("heritage").
Gorleben is known as the site of a controversial radioactive waste
disposal facility, currently used as an intermediate storage facility but planned to serve with the salt dome Gorleben
as a future deep final repository
for waste from nuclear reactors. It has attracted frequent protests from environmentalists since the 1970s.
The small town is directly on the left bank of the Elbe
river, about 20 metres above sea level
. The Elbe river landscape spreads out to the east, north and northwest, protected as the Lower Saxon Elbe Valley Leas biosphere reserve
. To the south, a large area of pine
forest adjoins it, the Gartower Tannen. This is the largest contiguous privately-owned forest in Germany, owned by Graf
Bernstorff of Gartow, and is on a large hilly area which grew out of wind-borne sand in a periglacial
process.
The entire region, up to the Drawehn
chain of hills in the west, is within the Elbe glacial valley
, the main run-off for melting glacial water from the last Ice Age
. Biogeographically
the area belongs to the Northeast German Lowlands.
There are some interesting points of natural history
including the Höhbeck
terminal moraine
from the Wolstonian Stage which looms up from the middle of the flat Elbe Valley as a Pleistocene
"island".
for radioactive waste
there, along with interim storage units. The waste comes from Germany's nuclear power plants, was reprocessed
in France at La Hague
, and the unusable remains then sent back to Germany in spent nuclear fuel shipping cask
s for final storage, according to the contract with the reprocessing company, Cogema
.
Originally, more projects were planned by the nuclear energy industry, for example a reprocessing plant
for nuclear fuel
at Dragahn, to the west of Dannenberg, and a nuclear power station at Langendorf
by the Elbe. However, both plans were rejected as impractical to carry out.
In woods around two kilometres to the southwest of Gorleben there are four different large plants: an interim storage unit for dry cask storage
, a storage unit for radioactive waste which emits faint heat, a conditioning plant and a pilot plant
in a salt dome
.
In the Gorleben waste dump (Abfalllager Gorleben), waste which emits negligible amounts of heat is also stored in the short term; this comes mainly from German nuclear power plants, but also from research and industry.
under the ground near Gorleben was and is intended to become a long-term storage place for all kinds of radioactive waste. On the site, the German Society for the Construction and Management of Long-Term Waste Storage Units (DBE mbH) runs what is known as a "pilot plant", which may become a long-term storage site for highly radioactive nuclear waste.
At present, however, this use is extremely controversial and it has not been finally decided upon yet. The choice of Gorleben as a site was made in 1977 by the Minister-President
of Lower Saxony
, Ernst Albrecht of the CDU
, based mainly upon political and economic criteria and particularly the proximity of the area at that time to the border with the GDR, and the sparse local populace.
Whatever the location, the basic choice of halite
(rock salt) as a host rock for a final repository was a step which eliminated from the start any alternative locations such as the clay or granite formations favourised in other countries for this purpose. Specific exploratory geological drillings were carried out between 1979 and 1999, and from the early eighties the results showed that the Gorleben salt dome could actually be unsuitable because of its unstable roof rock and as it has contact with the groundwater
.
One example of this instability is the "Gorleben Rut", a gully made by melting glacial ice which runs as low as 320 m below the surface directly above the dome. The gully is composed of sandy, gritty material which conducts groundwater. This means that the roof of the dome, expected to be several hundred metres thick and made of heavy Oligocene
clay layers, does not exist in this form at this spot. According to the German Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) this is the minimum required for any location to be suitable as a final repository, following their definition of a "multi-barrier system". These clay layers have been destroyed from below by the diapir
of the salt dome as it was forced upwards by tectonics
, and from above by material being carried away and filled in by Ice Age glaciers.
Another discovery made by the exploratory drilling was that saliferous groundwater moves both from the sides and the top of the salt dome towards the surface, meaning that if it came into contact with highly radioactive material, the result would be a contamination of the biosphere
. If groundwater is in contact with the halite, another factor to be reckoned with is subrosion, i.e. cavities developing due to salt leaching
. This could cause the roof to collapse, or sinkhole
s to form on the surface of the earth. There are numerous examples of this happening in salt domes all across northern Germany, including a ten-kilometre-long, deep depression over the northeastern part of the Gorleben salt structure itself; in this depression, for example, the 1.75 square kilometre Rudower See lake and the Rambower See formed; the latter is now fen
land.
In comparisons of the possible locations according to hydrogeological
and geological
criteria, Gorleben was judged the least suitable out of several salt domes. Some critics complained that the exploration was in fact a hidden attempt to build the storage unit. Despite the findings, further exploration has not been cancelled but only put on hold since 2000-10-01. This break, described as a "moratorium", is to provide time to sort out questions on the concept behind the final repository and its security.
Those in favour of Gorleben as a location for the dump have called for the moratorium to be lifted, to let further exploration go ahead; its opponents have demanded a comparison with several alternative halite locations, as is usually mandatory for large-scale plans. Furthermore, they consider the geological results so far to be convincing enough evidence that Gorleben is an unsuitable spot for a nuclear waste repository.
In 2010, Angela Merkel
's center-right Federal Government lifted the moratorium and re-started the exploration process. Large-scale protests promptly resumed.
(Green party
) as illegal mining - there were protests by opponents of nuclear technology
locally and nationwide.
On 1980-05-03 a micronation
, the "Free Republic of Wendland
" was founded symbolically by building a village of huts at the site of the exploratory mine. Gerhard Schröder
, then the leader of the SPD
youth organisation Jusos
(later to become Chancellor of Germany), spoke out in support of the occupiers. On 1980-06-04 the police moved in and cleared out the encampment.
Today, protests still take place against nuclear energy and the plans for waste disposal at Gorleben: they reach a climax in the yearly transport of dry cask containers by rail and special lorries through northern France and Germany to the interim storage unit. For the last few years, this transport has usually been carried out in November; it is accompanied by a huge police presence.
In November 2008, a shipment of radioactive waste from German nuclear plants arrived at a storage site near Gorleben after being delayed by large protests from nuclear activists. More than 15,000 people took part in the protests which involved blocking the route with tractors and blocking trucks with sit-down demonstrations.
The municipality of Gorleben and the Gartow administrative association both receive annual "compensation" payments known as Gorleben-Gelder (Gorleben funds). The nuclear industry and most of the CDU
and FDP
political parties, including Chancellor Angela Merkel
, also support further exploration of the site with no search for alternative locations, and following this the use of the Gorleben salt dome as a national or even international final repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste.
Gartow
Gartow is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the easternmost tip of Lower Saxony, on the river Elbe, approx. 30 km northeast of Salzwedel, and 20 km west of Wittenberge...
region of the Lüchow-Dannenberg
Lüchow-Dannenberg
Lüchow-Dannenberg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany which is usually referred to as Hannoversches Wendland or Wendland. It is bounded by the districts of Uelzen and Lüneburg and the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt Lüchow-Dannenberg is a district in...
district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
in the far north-east of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, a region also known as the Wendland
Wendland
Wendland may refer to either of the following regions or people:*Wendland may refer to a region once inhabited by Wends, an old Germanic term for Slavic tribes living in close proximity to the Germanic tribes:...
.
Gorleben was first recorded as a town by the rulers of Dannenberg
Dannenberg
- Places :* Dannenberg , a town in Germany* County of Dannenberg, a medieval fief founded by Henry the Lion- People :* Konrad Dannenberg, German-American engineer* Peter A Dannenberg, Russian general...
in 1360; there was a fort on the site. The name "Gorleben" probably comes from Goor ("silt
Silt
Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
"; in Slavic, however, Gor means "mountain") and leben ("heritage").
Gorleben is known as the site of a controversial radioactive waste
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
disposal facility, currently used as an intermediate storage facility but planned to serve with the salt dome Gorleben
Salt dome Gorleben
The salt dome Gorleben is a proposed deep geological repository in a salt dome in Gorleben in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far north-east of Lower Saxony for low-, medium- and high-level radioactive waste.-Site selection:...
as a future deep final repository
Deep geological repository
A deep geological repository is a nuclear waste repository excavated deep within a stable geologic environment...
for waste from nuclear reactors. It has attracted frequent protests from environmentalists since the 1970s.
Geography
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
river, about 20 metres above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. The Elbe river landscape spreads out to the east, north and northwest, protected as the Lower Saxon Elbe Valley Leas biosphere reserve
Biosphere reserve
The Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO was established in 1971 to promote interdisciplinary approaches to management, research and education in ecosystem conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.-Development:...
. To the south, a large area of pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
forest adjoins it, the Gartower Tannen. This is the largest contiguous privately-owned forest in Germany, owned by Graf
Graf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
Bernstorff of Gartow, and is on a large hilly area which grew out of wind-borne sand in a periglacial
Periglacial
Periglacial is an adjective originally referring to places in the edges of glacial areas, but it has later been widely used in geomorphology to describe any place where geomorphic processes related to freezing of water occur...
process.
The entire region, up to the Drawehn
Drawehn
The Drawehn is a partly wooded and partly agricultural region of hills in the northeastern part of the German state of Lower Saxony, lying between the districts of Lüneburg and Uelzen in the west and Lüchow-Dannenberg in the east.- Definition :...
chain of hills in the west, is within the Elbe glacial valley
U-shaped valley
A U-shaped valley also known as a glacial trough is one formed by the process of glaciation. It has a characteristic U-shape, with steep, straight sides, and a flat bottom. Glaciated valleys are formed when a glacier travels across and down a slope, carving the valley by the action of scouring...
, the main run-off for melting glacial water from the last Ice Age
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
. Biogeographically
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...
the area belongs to the Northeast German Lowlands.
There are some interesting points of natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
including the Höhbeck
Höhbeck
Höhbeck is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
terminal moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
from the Wolstonian Stage which looms up from the middle of the flat Elbe Valley as a Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
"island".
Nuclear Waste Repository
The name "Gorleben" has become infamous both nationally and internationally because of plans to build a national deep geological repositoryDeep geological repository
A deep geological repository is a nuclear waste repository excavated deep within a stable geologic environment...
for radioactive waste
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
there, along with interim storage units. The waste comes from Germany's nuclear power plants, was reprocessed
Nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing technology was developed to chemically separate and recover fissionable plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel. Reprocessing serves multiple purposes, whose relative importance has changed over time. Originally reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing...
in France at La Hague
La Hague
La Hague is a region on the tip of the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, France.La Hague is a picturesque place of Precambrian granite cliffs, coves and small fields surrounded by hedges. It faces the Channel Islands and there any many cousins on both side of the Alderney race.The dialect of the...
, and the unusable remains then sent back to Germany in spent nuclear fuel shipping cask
Spent nuclear fuel shipping cask
Spent nuclear fuel shipping casks are used to transport spent nuclear fuel used in nuclear power plants and research reactors to disposal sites such as the nuclear reprocessing center at COGEMA La Hague site...
s for final storage, according to the contract with the reprocessing company, Cogema
COGEMA La Hague site
The AREVA NC La Hague site is a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant of AREVA in La Hague on the French Cotentin Peninsula that currently has nearly half of the world's light water reactor spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capacity. It has been in operation since 1976, and has a capacity of about 1700...
.
Originally, more projects were planned by the nuclear energy industry, for example a reprocessing plant
Nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing technology was developed to chemically separate and recover fissionable plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel. Reprocessing serves multiple purposes, whose relative importance has changed over time. Originally reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing...
for nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel is a material that can be 'consumed' by fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy. Nuclear fuels are the most dense sources of energy available...
at Dragahn, to the west of Dannenberg, and a nuclear power station at Langendorf
Langendorf
Langendorf can refer to several places:*Langendorf, Saxony-Anhalt, a town in the district Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany*Langendorf, Lower Saxony, a town in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony, Germany*Langendorf, Switzerland...
by the Elbe. However, both plans were rejected as impractical to carry out.
In woods around two kilometres to the southwest of Gorleben there are four different large plants: an interim storage unit for dry cask storage
Dry cask storage
Dry cask storage is a method of storing high-level radioactive waste, such as spent nuclear fuel that has already been cooled in the spent fuel pool for at least one year.. These casks are typically steel cylinders that are either welded or bolted closed. When inside, the fuel rods are surrounded...
, a storage unit for radioactive waste which emits faint heat, a conditioning plant and a pilot plant
Pilot plant
A pilot plant is a small chemical processing system which is operated to generate information about the behavior of the system for use in design of larger facilities....
in a salt dome
Salt dome
A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock strata, forming a diapir....
.
Interim storage unit for radioactive waste
Today in Gorleben there are two interim storage units for radioactive waste. The Gorleben transport container storage unit (Transportbehälterlager Gorleben) is used for short-term storage of spent fuel elements and for vitrified, highly radioactive waste from German nuclear reprocessing plants. The fuel elements and vitrified waste block containers are in dry casks standing in a hall above ground and cooled by the surrounding air. Permission has been granted to store 420 dry casks on the site.In the Gorleben waste dump (Abfalllager Gorleben), waste which emits negligible amounts of heat is also stored in the short term; this comes mainly from German nuclear power plants, but also from research and industry.
Gorleben long-term storage project
The salt domeSalt dome
A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock strata, forming a diapir....
under the ground near Gorleben was and is intended to become a long-term storage place for all kinds of radioactive waste. On the site, the German Society for the Construction and Management of Long-Term Waste Storage Units (DBE mbH) runs what is known as a "pilot plant", which may become a long-term storage site for highly radioactive nuclear waste.
At present, however, this use is extremely controversial and it has not been finally decided upon yet. The choice of Gorleben as a site was made in 1977 by the Minister-President
Minister-President
A minister-president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments, in which a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government prevails, who presides over the council of ministers...
of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Ernst Albrecht of the CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
, based mainly upon political and economic criteria and particularly the proximity of the area at that time to the border with the GDR, and the sparse local populace.
Whatever the location, the basic choice of halite
Halite
Halite , commonly known as rock salt, is the mineral form of sodium chloride . Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on the amount and type of impurities...
(rock salt) as a host rock for a final repository was a step which eliminated from the start any alternative locations such as the clay or granite formations favourised in other countries for this purpose. Specific exploratory geological drillings were carried out between 1979 and 1999, and from the early eighties the results showed that the Gorleben salt dome could actually be unsuitable because of its unstable roof rock and as it has contact with the groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...
.
One example of this instability is the "Gorleben Rut", a gully made by melting glacial ice which runs as low as 320 m below the surface directly above the dome. The gully is composed of sandy, gritty material which conducts groundwater. This means that the roof of the dome, expected to be several hundred metres thick and made of heavy Oligocene
Oligocene
The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
clay layers, does not exist in this form at this spot. According to the German Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) this is the minimum required for any location to be suitable as a final repository, following their definition of a "multi-barrier system". These clay layers have been destroyed from below by the diapir
Diapir
A diapir is a type of intrusion in which a more mobile and ductily-deformable material is forced into brittle overlying rocks. Depending on the tectonic environment, diapirs can range from idealized mushroom-shaped Rayleigh-Taylor instability-type structures in regions with low tectonic stress...
of the salt dome as it was forced upwards by tectonics
Tectonics
Tectonics is a field of study within geology concerned generally with the structures within the lithosphere of the Earth and particularly with the forces and movements that have operated in a region to create these structures.Tectonics is concerned with the orogenies and tectonic development of...
, and from above by material being carried away and filled in by Ice Age glaciers.
Another discovery made by the exploratory drilling was that saliferous groundwater moves both from the sides and the top of the salt dome towards the surface, meaning that if it came into contact with highly radioactive material, the result would be a contamination of the biosphere
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
. If groundwater is in contact with the halite, another factor to be reckoned with is subrosion, i.e. cavities developing due to salt leaching
Leaching (pedology)
In pedology, leaching is the loss of mineral and organic solutes due to percolation. It is a mechanism of soil formation. It is distinct from the soil forming process of eluviation, which is the loss of mineral and organic colloids. Leached and elluviated materials tend to be lost from topsoil and...
. This could cause the roof to collapse, or sinkhole
Sinkhole
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone...
s to form on the surface of the earth. There are numerous examples of this happening in salt domes all across northern Germany, including a ten-kilometre-long, deep depression over the northeastern part of the Gorleben salt structure itself; in this depression, for example, the 1.75 square kilometre Rudower See lake and the Rambower See formed; the latter is now fen
Fen
A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...
land.
In comparisons of the possible locations according to hydrogeological
Hydrogeology
Hydrogeology is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust, . The term geohydrology is often used interchangeably...
and geological
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
criteria, Gorleben was judged the least suitable out of several salt domes. Some critics complained that the exploration was in fact a hidden attempt to build the storage unit. Despite the findings, further exploration has not been cancelled but only put on hold since 2000-10-01. This break, described as a "moratorium", is to provide time to sort out questions on the concept behind the final repository and its security.
Those in favour of Gorleben as a location for the dump have called for the moratorium to be lifted, to let further exploration go ahead; its opponents have demanded a comparison with several alternative halite locations, as is usually mandatory for large-scale plans. Furthermore, they consider the geological results so far to be convincing enough evidence that Gorleben is an unsuitable spot for a nuclear waste repository.
In 2010, Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
's center-right Federal Government lifted the moratorium and re-started the exploration process. Large-scale protests promptly resumed.
Pilot conditioning plant
Near the exploratory mine and the interim storage hall, there is still a "pilot conditioning plant". Here, tests are to be made of conditioning the fuel elements in order to store them in a deep repository, and also to reload the containers for the vitrified waste blocks into containers suited to long-term storage. The dry cask storage containers themselves are not suitable for long-term storage and can not be placed in the salt dome for technical reasons. However, at present the plant may only be used for repairing damaged containers, according to an agreement signed by the German government.Dispute
Even while the interim storage unit and the first exploratory mine were being set up - the latter was once referred to by Jürgen TrittinJürgen Trittin
Jürgen Trittin is a German Green politician. He was Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 1998 to 2005 in Germany.- Life and work :Trittin was born in Bremen...
(Green party
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
) as illegal mining - there were protests by opponents of nuclear technology
Anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
locally and nationwide.
On 1980-05-03 a micronation
Micronation
Micronations, sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects, are entities that claim to be independent nations or states but which are not recognized by world governments or major international organizations...
, the "Free Republic of Wendland
Free Republic of Wendland
The Free Republic of Wendland was a protest camp established in Gorleben, Germany on 3 May 1980 to protest against the establishment of a radioactive waste dump there. On 4 June 1980, the police moved in to evict the camp.- See also :* Anti-nuclear movement in Germany...
" was founded symbolically by building a village of huts at the site of the exploratory mine. Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...
, then the leader of the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
youth organisation Jusos
Young Socialists in the SPD
Young Socialists in the SPD is the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .The Jusos see themselves as a socialist and feminist association within the SPD. Generally more left-wing in their approach to current events than their mother party, Jusos tend to criticize leading...
(later to become Chancellor of Germany), spoke out in support of the occupiers. On 1980-06-04 the police moved in and cleared out the encampment.
Today, protests still take place against nuclear energy and the plans for waste disposal at Gorleben: they reach a climax in the yearly transport of dry cask containers by rail and special lorries through northern France and Germany to the interim storage unit. For the last few years, this transport has usually been carried out in November; it is accompanied by a huge police presence.
In November 2008, a shipment of radioactive waste from German nuclear plants arrived at a storage site near Gorleben after being delayed by large protests from nuclear activists. More than 15,000 people took part in the protests which involved blocking the route with tractors and blocking trucks with sit-down demonstrations.
The municipality of Gorleben and the Gartow administrative association both receive annual "compensation" payments known as Gorleben-Gelder (Gorleben funds). The nuclear industry and most of the CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
and FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
political parties, including Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
, also support further exploration of the site with no search for alternative locations, and following this the use of the Gorleben salt dome as a national or even international final repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste.
See also
- Bundesamt für StrahlenschutzBundesamt für StrahlenschutzThe Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz is the German Federal Authority for Radiation Protection. The BfS was established in November 1989, the headquarter is located in Salzgitter, with branch offices in Berlin, Bonn, Freiburg, Gorleben, Oberschleißheim and Rendsburg. It has 708 employees and an annual...
- Radioactive wasteRadioactive wasteRadioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
- Dry cask storageDry cask storageDry cask storage is a method of storing high-level radioactive waste, such as spent nuclear fuel that has already been cooled in the spent fuel pool for at least one year.. These casks are typically steel cylinders that are either welded or bolted closed. When inside, the fuel rods are surrounded...
- Anti-nuclear movement in GermanyAnti-nuclear movement in GermanyThe anti-nuclear movement in Germany has a long history dating back to the early 1970s, when large demonstrations prevented the construction of a nuclear plant at Wyhl. The Whyl protests were an example of a local community challenging the nuclear industry through a strategy of direct action and...
- WyhlWyhlWyhl is a municipality in the district of Emmendingen in Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany.It was known in the 1970s for its role in the anti-nuclear movement....