History of Europe

The day when the nuclear waste came to Gorleben

Castor transports with highly radioactive waste, demonstrators chaining themselves to rails and a search for a nuclear waste repository that continues to this day:Gorleben in Lower Saxony has been a symbol of the nuclear power dispute for decades. The first transport of nuclear waste reached the small town in Wendland 35 years ago.

On October 8, 1984, the warehouse in Gorleben begins operations.

October 8, 1984:At 8:42 a.m., four low-loaders left the Stade nuclear power plant. Loaded with 210 two-hundred-liter barrels, the transport with low-level radioactive waste makes its way to the Gorleben interim storage facility in Lower Saxony, where the warehouses are still empty.

The opponents of nuclear power found out too late about the transport. The movement tries to activate its followers with telephone chains. But in times without mobile phones and the Internet, that takes far too long. In addition, the transport is not driving through the Wendland on the L 216 federal road as expected, but is moving in the direction of Uelzen and approaching Gorleben from the south.

Large contingent from the police and BGS

A large contingent of police and federal border guards secures the transport. Police helicopters provide an overview from the air, while 50 police vehicles with around 2,000 officers secure the streets. On the route between Gedelitz and Gorleben, security officers roll out several kilometers of NATO wire at the side of the road. Nuclear opponents were only able to temporarily stop the transport in the early evening - but only a few hundred meters before the interim storage facility. Contrary to expectations, the first storage in the Gorleben barrel store went smoothly.

NPP opponents:storage in Gorleben illegal

When it became known in the spring of 1984 that there were plans for the first transport, nuclear opponents were alarmed. They carry out numerous attacks, especially on the railway line to Gorleben. In addition, there are legal disputes in the run-up to the commissioning of the barrel store. The protesters are applying to the Lüneburg Administrative Court for a temporary injunction against the dumping. Rainer Geulen, lawyer for several citizens from Lüchow-Dannenberg, speaks of "fait accompli" that the operators of the interim storage facility created with the transport.

More obstacles for second transport

On the evening of October 8, the rumor spread that another transport from Stade to Gorleben was to take place the following day. After the nuclear power plant opponents were caught flat-footed on Monday, they are now already preparing numerous road blockades with vehicles parked across them, tree trunks and burning straw bales on Tuesday night.

At 9:45 a.m. on October 9, 1984, articulated lorries set off from Stade with 296 barrels distributed among ten containers. Around 40 police vans secure the transport, which has to overcome significantly more obstacles that day. Nevertheless, the convoy reached the interim storage facility in the evening. One reason for the quick succession of transports is an upcoming TÜV inspection at the Stade nuclear power plant, for which the storage facility there has to be emptied by mid-October 1984.

Transnuclear scandal:Barrels incorrectly declared

However, the barrels remain in the interim storage facility for less time than expected:at the end of the 1980s, it became known that the Hanau-based company Transnuclear had distributed falsely declared barrels with nuclear waste from the Belgian nuclear research site in Mol, which contained more radioactive waste than stated. Probably around 300 barrels from the so-called transnuclear scandal also ended up in Gorleben.

Many of the other barrels also show signs of corrosion damage and swelling due to gas development, and precise information on the origin and content of a large number is also missing. 1,296 barrels are removed from the warehouse in the 1990s, repaired elsewhere and stored. Only a fraction is brought back to Gorleben, including 32 of the barrels from Belgium.

The search for a repository and the Gorleben question

A few days after the first transport of nuclear waste, on October 12, 1984, the Lüneburg Administrative Court rejected the application for a temporary injunction against the dumping of radioactive substances in Gorleben. But the fight against the interim storage facility goes on. He expresses himself above all in the massive protests against the Castor transports with highly radioactive material, which have been carried out since 1995. Several times there are massive clashes between opponents of nuclear power and the police.

After years of concentrating on Gorleben, the authorities have been looking nationwide for a suitable nuclear repository since 2013. Even if the shaft has not been explored since then, the protective wall has been dismantled and the pilot conditioning plant has been stopped and many politicians consider the Gorleben site to be politically burned or unsuitable:it is not entirely impossible that Gorleben will still become a repository. That is why the mine should not be filled in, but kept open. This is exactly what opponents criticize, especially since politicians had announced a nationwide search for a repository with a white map.