“Why the search for a final nuclear repository will fail”

Germany’s new search for a final nuclear repository officially began yesterday with environment minister Barbara Hendricks insisting “mistakes of the past will not be repeated”, Paul Reimar writes in Der Tagesspiegel. But critics are convinced that the new approach “will lead into a cul-de-sac as well”, he adds. A premature commitment to finding an underground repository, political compromises instead of sound geological criteria, and insufficient involvement of affected communities will eventually derail the search, anti-nuclear organisation “ausgestrahlt” told the newspaper. Even the “utterly unrealistic” determination of a 2031 deadline was creating enough time pressure to cause “sloppy procedures and airy decisions”. Many residents living near the current, temporary repository Gorleben do not believe that the government is trying to find a new location as “billions have already been invested” in exploring the salt stock in northern Germany.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW dossier The challenges of Germany's nuclear phase-out for background.