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Germany to experience another anti-nuclear protest

“We’re of the opinion that atomic energy cannot be controlled,” Leipold said. “It creates an enormous disposal problem, and we have to deal with that. We have a large transitional storage facility here, and there are many people here who are not okay with it.”

Protesters in Germany gear up to block another nuclear waste transport | Deutsche Welle   Gerhard Schneibel, 10 Feb 2011, Activists are preparing to protest a cross-country train transport of nuclear waste. Authorities aren’t saying when the transport will leave, but the protestors plan to intercept it.

With another rail transport of high-level nuclear waste scheduled in Germany this month, activists opposing nuclear power are gearing up to block its route by occupying the tracks.

The transport will travel from the southwestern German city of Karlsruhe to a storage facility near Lubmin, which is on the Baltic Sea. On board will be nuclear waste which has been vitrified – or mixed with glass – and stored in 140 “castor” containers designed for spent nuclear fuel.

Local police at the transport’s destination wouldn’t give information about the scope of their preparations, and the Federal Ministry of the Interior also declined to comment on the route or date of the transport when contacted by Deutsche Welle. However, media reports last month indicated federal police had booked rooms in area hotels.

Protestors are planning to start their protest on February 12. They expect the transport to leave Karlsruhe during the night of February 16 and arrive in Lubmin the next day. The train may pass through Saxony, where a force of 600 police will be mobilized, according to local press.

Organizers determined

Last Saturday, several hundred people gathered in the northern German city of Rostock for a separate protest against the transport.

Felix Leipold, an activist with the organization Anti-Atom Bündnis NordOst, said he is expecting thousands to attend protests across Germany on Febuary 12. For the most part, protestors will stand beside the tracks and wave in the hopes of slowing the transport down. Protestors serving as lookouts will watch for the transport and track its position via updates on the Internet……

“We’re of the opinion that atomic energy cannot be controlled,” Leipold said. “It creates an enormous disposal problem, and we have to deal with that. We have a large transitional storage facility here, and there are many people here who are not okay with it.”

Protesters in Germany gear up to block another nuclear waste transport | Environment & Development | Deutsche Welle | 10.02.2011

February 11, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, opposition to nuclear