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German minister caves in over nuclear dump
Diet Simon - 19.12.2004 17:02
Ahead of a crucial election, the German environment minister has caved in to the nuclear power industry over the search for a final nuclear waste dump, alleges a leftwing daily, the tageszeitung (taz).  http://www.taz.de/pt/2004/12/17/a0138.nf/text.ges,1
More precisely, says Berlin-based taz, Jürgen Trittin (Greens) has caved in to the Social Democrat chancellor, Gerhard Schröder.
An election is due in Germany’s most populous state, North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), on 22 May. Outcomes in the state of nearly 18 million people are taken as a fairly accurate reading of the voting mood throughout Germany, where a national election is due in 2006.
NRW is home to several huge electricity corporations, including E.on and RWE, second and third largest in Europe respectively and both also global players. http://www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/veranstaltungen/salzburg2003/mez_lutz_piening_annette.pdf
Essen-based RWE is currently in a scandal spotlight for having continued to pay salaries of executives who went into high-ranking political jobs although they more or less did nothing for their money. One of them is Laurenz Meyer, secretary-general of the opposition CDU party, formerly with RWE and holding a contract allowing him to return there. http://www.faz.net/s/Rub9E75B460C0744F8695B3E0BE5A30A620/Doc~EE9BF564E56974F3291124CE93759A4F5~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html and http://news.google.de/news?q=laurenz%20meyer%20&hl=de&lr=&sa=N&tab=wn.
NRW is governed by a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens who are under severe criticism by opponents of nuclear power for not curbing nuclear activities and even allowing their expansion http://de.indymedia.org//2004/10/96079.shtml.
Although Trittin has promised to put forth a bill by the end of this year on searching for three sites to examine as possible final waste repositories, the taz says the decision has been put off yet again. http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/12/101470.shtml
This has infuriated activists in the Gorleben area where spent nuclear fuel rods are now “interim”-stored in a hall, and a salt mine was sunk and being explored as a possible final storage place. Exploration was stopped six years ago on scientific advice that the salt has contact with ground water. But industry is pressing to use the mine nonetheless. http://www.castor.de/3aktuelles.html
Bringing collapsible chairs with them to the Luechow market place the protesters sat on them symbolically on Saturday to mock Trittin’s “sitting out” the issue.
Trittin’s spokeswoman, Frauke Stamer, told taz that work remains to be done on the draft law. As agreed in the coalition contract between the Social Democrats and The Greens, she said, the federal government would table a bill in parliament. A law would be adopted in this legislative period (which ends in 2006 – see above).
The Greens in the state parliament of Lower Saxony, where Gorleben is situated, are “annoyed”, says their atomic policy spokesman, Andreas Meihsies. Trittin, who comes from the state, had told its Greens a few days ago that the end-of-the-year promise wouldn’t be kept.
According to these sources the ministry has finished the bill on searching for possible sites, but Trittin was not able to assert the firmly agreed project within the coalition.
Trittin is said to have gone to the chancellery but been turned down, participants summarise his account.
Before the important NRW election, the Social Democrats did not want to risk conflict with the energy utilities, the sources said.
Leaders of The Greens had also agreed to another delay in the repository search after hearing the coalition partners’ concerns.
The umbrella group of Gorleben activists, Bürgerinitiative Lüchow-Dannenberg, says they don’t expect the promised open-ended search for a repository as an alternative to Gorleben to happen in this second Red-Green legislative period, either. After all, they argue, the search has been prepared for six years without anything real happening.
For four years a working group called "Arbeitskreis Auswahlverfahren Endlagerstandorte" worked on a procedural suggestion for the final repository search. Its report has been out since December 2002 without its recommendations having led to action.
"We’ve had enough declarations of intent,” says the spokesman of the BI Lüchow-Dannenberg Dieter Metk. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bi-luechow-dannenberg.de/images/dieter.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bi-luechow-dannenberg.de/vorstand.html&h=158&w=113&sz=7&tbnid=XPsf0IlNLnoJ:&tbnh=90&tbnw=65&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddieter%2BMetk%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG
The only thing Trittin had achieved since the atomic power exit consensus between the governing parties, had been a blockage of any further change to the Gorleben salt deposit, Metk said. He imputes that this is to ensure Gorleben as the final dump.
Wood barricade stopped new waste train
Meanwhile another train of German nuclear waste has run thousands of kilometres through Germany and France to a plutonium factory at La Hague in Normandy (where they make the delicious camembert). http://www.cogema.fr/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=cogema_en/communique/communique_full_template&c=communique&cid=1101220267022&p=1039482707194
Activists report that the train carrying four Castor containers of waste from the shut-down Stade power station in north Germany ran into a timber barricade near Buchholz, near Hamburg, early Wednesday morning and was stopped for about two hours. http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/12/101744.shtml
“Despite two alerts,” reported M.I.R., “the first group throwing fireworks on the track (about two km from the barricade), the second waving torches and banners (about a km from the barricade), the Castor train did not stop.
“It raced into the barricade of branches and tree logs at about 50 to 60 kmh. Only then it stopped – but for two hours!
“We are enraged and worried that yet again a Castor transport just keeps going despite alerts. Is this designed to discourage lock-on actions? We don’t know, but we do know that it’s becoming harder all the time to stop Castors with ‘non-violent’ actions – they just http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/11/100236.shtml don’t stop.
“After the Castor train stopped, about four people were arrested about a km away. They were accused of several things: having laid ‘objects’ into the rails and lighting a fire on the rails. The place of the arrest was swarming with cops from various locations and units. The fire brigade were also there with two vehicles and at the end came gents from the railways, so-called emergency managers. A helicopter was also circling incessantly.
“After about two hours in the cold the four people were taken in to the police station in Buchholz, kept locked up for about six hours and put on the record. They are accused of ‘serious interference with rail traffic’. These were the only id-treatments or arrests.
“Especially after the death of Sébastien [Briat] we find it all the more repugnant that despite warnings Castor trains don’t brake or stop. But that does not prevent us from continuing to disturb atomic transports imaginatively and creatively, regardless of where they’re from or going. http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/11/98718.shtml
“We feel that after Sébastien’s death it is even more important to point out especially the transports to the recycling plant and to accompany the transports with various actions.
“Don’t believe the cops or the media. Greetings in solidarity to all who were on the move! Turn rage and mourning to resistance!”
At the same de.IndyMedia site, a writer apparently sending greetings from Göttingen noted that the train not stopping “is unfortunately more the rule than the exception – see also the happenings in Göttingen during the 2003 Castor train to Gorleben. http://de.indymedia.org//2004/04/81421.shtml
“That time, too, the train ran through barricades (which in this case were harmless). The trial of one person was later quashed, the state paying costs, because it would probably have turned out too embarrassing. [Two umbrellas had been placed on the rails.] http://www.goest.de/castor03.htm
contrAtom wrote that despite the massive dangers to the public from atomic waste transports, the media are mainly conspicuously ignorant and disinformative. “This is most probably due to increased disinterest in the population.
“Atomic waste transports (except those to Gorleben) and effective actions against them are bracketed out of news broadcasts. It is a scandal that this transport ran right through the republic without media commentary.”
The writer notes that a local paper described the train stopped as a “goods train” and the big media had nothing. [This is not quite true. The activists near Hamburg reported wide media coverage.]
“It appears that the ‘resistance’ is to be intimidated and criminalised – and the media have to own a share of that development.”
Osnabrück
antiatomos reported several people meeting at Osnabrück central station Wednesday morning to demonstrate before, during and after the passage of the radioactive waste and to bring the problems to the attention of passers-by. (Pictures: http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/12/101721.shtml)
“At 12.43 p.m. the transport raced through the unsecured station towards Münster. The police presence was not that large but bigger than at many other atomic waste transports that ran regularly through Osnabrück every 6 – 8 weeks, but then mysteriously didn’t pass through at all for a year.
“Two hours before the train drove through Osnabrück very late (because of an accident and protests) a police helicopter was circling over the town and flew along the track.
”During the vigil a banner saying ‘Castor alarm’ was held up and leaflets were handed out. There were no problems protesting at the platform; later, at the request of the station manager, the police moved the protest group out of the station hall where they were able to continue the action.”  antiatomos@web.de
Leaflets at French stations
Résistante wrote that France does good business with atomic waste. “On 10 December and on 24 November Castors from Switzerland also arrived in la Hague.
“On Wednesday leaflets about atomic waste transports were handed out at various French railway stations. Information is needed because many people in France don’t even know that atomic waste is transported at all. We’ll be in the way everywhere. Long live the resistance – in France, too!”
Fun in Waltrop
“After a short rally in the pedestrian mall, the band ‘No Ties Required’ from Münster let rip around 7 p.m. Party!” (Pictures: http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/12/101687.shtml)
“Balls of wool flew hither and thither through the pedestrian mall and created a bit of fun. Quick as a flash a net was spun. After a successful test the 60-70 participants, including band and flatbed truck were off to the Castor track at the railway crossing at the old station.
“The Green Team [police, whose uniforms are green] had turned up in a dozen squad cars. Everything easy. At the station, after a short warm-up, round two began. Armed with wool the people headed for the rails. Hecticism breaks out. Wool begins to fly from the left and the right of the station. The band also wants a slice of the action and keeps the mood up with mobile technology.
“The action was just starting to get really enjoyable when the cops started being real killjoys, pushing and insulting and threatening pepper spray. After two or three fouls by Green Team we chose to break off the game.” Homepage: http://www.nixfaehrtmehr.de
There were also actions at railways stations in Bremen, Grohnde, Münster and Hamm.
10th anniversary stroll in Ahaus
The last protest action this year is the Sunday stroll (19th, 2 pm) at the interim waste storage in Ahaus. It’s the 10th anniversary! “Come help us celebrate!” say activists. “Let’s stop Castors and uranium transports! Close down atomic plants – worldwide!” e-Mail: wigatom@web.de Homepage:: http://www.wigatom.de
Grohnde
At Bahnhof Emmerthal near Grohnde, site of a nuclear power station, an information table with vigil took place, followed by an inspection of the nuke compound. A banner demanded an end to Castor transports to La Hague and “No to separation of weapons-grade plutonium!” This was a reference to the often forgotten military background to socalled “recycling”.
The activists expressed their determination to keep the police busy at future transports to France. “One reason after the death of the French activist Sébastian Briat is to send a clear signal to the French movement: We’re not just worried about Gorleben, we’re fighting the death-bringing atomic industry always and everywhere! We all know: after the Castor is before the Castor…” Homepage: http://www.atomplenum.de
Waste problem unsolved
The association of environment protection groups, BBU, condemned the latest Castor consignment.
Udo Buchholz of the BBU commented that it again put German and French people in danger "It’s making clear yet again that the atomic waste problem is unsolved. The waste taken from Germany to France contributes there to radioactive contamination of air and water and will later be brought back to the interim storages in Gorleben or Ahaus. There the threat is storage for thousands of years. Only the immediate closure of all atomic installations can help to stop the atomic waste problem getting ever bigger.”
Buchholz welcomed the protests that took place along the route.
No criminal proceedings over Sébastien Briat’s death
The dpa news agency quoted French authorities as saying that lack of caution and misjudgements led to the death of 22-year-old Sébastien Briat when on 7 November he tried to stop a Castor train that was heading for Gorleben. Briat was run over at Avricourt in Lorraine. http://www.verivox.de/news/ArticleDetails.asp?aid=8560
The state attorney in Nancy quoted the investigation report of the police, dpa said. There would be no criminal proceedings.
The police report says Briat and others had chained themselves to the track. The activists strenuously deny this. http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/11/98718.shtml
In a statement, Sébastien’s friends wrote: “Four of us were lying next to the rails because we had placed two pipes under the rails. No one was lying between the rails so as to be able to get away fast in an emergency. We were not chained on and so had the possibility to quickly pull our arms out of the pipe.”
According to the state attorney, “those chained-on” had mistaken the actual travel time of the train and had relied on word from other activists that the train was coming “in 20 minutes”, whereas it was only seven minutes away.
Their two-way radios had not worked. The Castor convoy had travelled at the permitted maximum speed of 98 kilometres an hour the state attorney said. http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/11/98285.shtml
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