Nuclear waste | A roundabout for the Castor

A construction site at a roundabout in Ahaus, Münsterland, could be the first sign that things are now really getting serious with the 152 planned Castor transports across North Rhine-Westphalia. 300,000 highly radioactive fuel element spheres from the Jülich research reactor, which was shut down in 1988, are to be transported across North Rhine-Westphalia to Ahaus.

The Castor containers in Jülich should not have been located since 2013. The permit for the facility has expired. There has been long-standing debate about what should be done with the nuclear waste. One option – the construction of an interim storage facility in Jülich – seems increasingly unlikely. This is indicated by the very construction work that began on Monday to upgrade a roundabout in Ahaus to accommodate the multi-ton nuclear waste transports.

Anti-nuclear initiatives from Münsterland used the construction work as an opportunity to protest again against the Castor transports. "152 individual transports with enormous police presence on the already dilapidated highways of North Rhine-Westphalia make no sense. They only endanger the public and place an even greater burden on the police due to the considerable threat of terrorism and sabotage . Highly radioactive nuclear waste does not belong on the highway," explained Marita Boslar from the "Stop Westcastor" alliance. Boslar has a clear demand for what should happen instead of the transports: "The construction of a new, modern interim storage facility in Jülich is the only sensible option. This is where the highly radioactive nuclear waste was produced. Only here can the Castor containers be repaired if necessary. A final storage facility will not be available for several decades at the earliest."

Many share the same opinion as the Castor opponents, as was also evident on Monday evening at Ahaus Town Hall. The federally owned BGZ (Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung), which operates the interim nuclear waste storage facility in Ahaus, hosted an information event . Representatives of the BGZ presented the storage concept. Guido Caspary of the Jülich Nuclear Waste Management Company (JEN) ​​made clear statements regarding the planned Castor transports. He expects final approval in the summer. After that, all that remains is to make arrangements with the police and other parties involved. "We are doing everything we can to ensure that a transport takes place this year," Caspary announced. The goal is to complete all transports by 2027.

For a good hour, representatives from BGZ and JEN then answered questions from council members and citizens of Ahaus. They wanted to know, for example, how the transports are secured against terrorism, whether the interim storage facilities can withstand attacks with military weapons, and how long the fuel element spheres have been stored in the containers.

There were concrete answers to the last question – some since 1993 – but not to others. Questions about the construction of an interim storage facility in Jülich were also repeatedly raised. At the end of the event, JEN representative Guido Caspary gave an emotional response. He had been dealing with the topic since 2007 and had "a real passion"; in those years, he had "changed horses 25 times." For him, it was no problem to build an interim storage facility. But a different decision had been made. He also saw "no risk" with the transports.

The decisive factor in the decision for transport and against the construction of a new interim storage facility in Ahaus: the costs. The response to a parliamentary question from Left Party member of the Bundestag Fabian Fahl provides new insights. "The prioritization of the Ahaus option is clearly based on short-term cost calculations and political motives," the member of the Bundestag criticizes. "The resolution of the Bundestag's Budget Committee, which instructs the federal ministries to prioritize transport to Ahaus, is the central point of this development." Fahl refers to a resolution of the Bundestag's Budget Committee from 2022. A subordinate clause in the federal government's response is controversial. The option with transport to Ahaus is preferable "if the state of North Rhine-Westphalia does not want to bear the additional costs of the new facility in Jülich."

This subordinate clause makes North Rhine-Westphalia's Deputy Minister-President, Mona Neubaur of the Green Party, look bad. As Minister of Economic Affairs, she is the state's top nuclear supervisor. The coalition agreement between the CDU and the Greens stipulated that they wanted to "avoid" nuclear transports. In recent months, however, Neubaur's ministry has done little to prevent Castor transports. The ministry denied having any influence on the transport permit. The fact that state funds could be used to ensure that no transports take place at all was not mentioned. The SPD in the Düsseldorf state parliament has now announced that it will investigate the matter.

At the federal level, Left Party MP Fabian Fahl criticized the budget committee's decision not to release the necessary funds for the new building in Jülich. "We demand the suspension of transports to Ahaus and the consistent pursuit of the new building option in Jülich," Fahl emphasized. "In the short term, this may seem more expensive, but in the long term, it is the safer and more sustainable solution."