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18 Ahaus trucks - too few shock absorbers
Diet Simon - 15.04.2004 22:20
Source story at  http://de.indymedia.org/2004/04/80224.shtml
It's going to take 18 truck trips 600 kms across Germany to take nuclear waste from Dresden to Ahaus - because there are only two adequate shock absorbers!
"Baby" Castor
That’s been told to WDR radio in Cologne and the Essen-based newspaper, Neue Ruhr Zeitung / Neue Rhein Zeitung (NRZ), by the specialist haulier and the organisation charged with disposing of 951 spent fuel rods from an experimental reactor.
“Any amount of time – several weeks! – and route to get active on,” recommends Widerstand gegen Atomlagen (Wiga,  wigatom@web.de). And Graf Zahl, adding to the source story, points out that it’ll be 37 truck runs on the route – 18 Dresden-Rossendorf to Ahaus and back, and one to get to the research reactor in the first place. “See you at the Castor catching on the autobahn!” Graf Zahl writes.
But, hey, get serious! Not enough shock absorbers in high-tech Germany? Seems so. Here’s how Arnd Knauer, CEO of Nuclear Cargo Service (NCS), a subsidiary of the German Railways tells it:
Knauer told the NRZ that presently there is only one pair of special shock absorbers to cushion the transport vibrations. There were none to be bought and there wasn’t enough time to make new ones.
Knauer argued that road trucking is necessary because it would also take 18 road runs through densely populated areas to get the waste caskets to the Dresden railway container loading yards. And because there was only the one pair of shock absorbers, 18 train runs would also be needed. And that risk, argued Knauer, was greater than direct trucking to Ahaus. Moreover, he said, much greater forces were exerted on the “baby Castors” in rail transportation, forces outside the safety limits. He either didn’t elaborate on that or the maths was too high for the NRZ reporter.
Knauer contradicted suspicions that costs were the main reasons for road instead of rail. These were purely technical considerations, he told the paper.
Because there’s just the one pair of special shock absorbers, only one Castor casket of waste can be transported at one time.
"We’re trying to get more transport equipment, but it’s unclear whether we’ll succeed,” a spokeswoman for the Verein für Kernverfahrenstechnik und Analytik Rossendorf (VKTA) told WDR. The association is tasked to dispose of the waste from the research reactor operated by communist East Germany.
The Federal Radiation protection Agency (BfS) has approved the transportation of 18 Castors, each containing up to seven kilogrammes of radioactive material.
It’s still unclear when the transports are to start. The BfS licence runs until the end of the year, says the VKTA spokeswoman, but no date had been set.
The spokesman of the Saxon environment ministry, Dirk Reelfs, assumes that transports will begin from June at the earliest. The Dortmund-based Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper has said they probably wouldn’t before August. It, too, cited the VKTA, but the VKTA denied this to the WDR.
The North-Rhine Westphalian state government says it expects to have a legal assessment on possibilities of stopping the transports “very soon”. Then further action would be decided, possibly including litigation in the supreme court (Bundesverfassungsgericht).
NRZ report: http://www.nrz.de/nrz/nrz.politik.volltext.php?kennung=on3nrzPHIPolNational38090&zulieferer=nrz&kategorie=PHI&rubrik=Politik®ion=National&auftritt=NRZ&dbserver=1
WDR report: http://www.wdr.de/themen/politik/nrw/atommuelltransport/index_040414.jhtml?rubrikenstyle=politik
Other anti-nuclear news:
- Tomorrow, Friday, the spring anti-nuclear conference begins in Berlin. The programme is at
[link op verzoek verwijderd]
- Because of mishaps in the nuclear power station in Fessenheim (Alsace, France) environmental activist groups from three countries have called for a demonstration on 24 April outside the station. (Hitchhike rides for the Neckarwestheim area are offered by Aktionbündnis, mobile 07141 90 33 63. Aktionsbuendnis CASTOR-Widerstand Neckarwestheim
anti-akw.neckarwestheim@s.netic.de
Info-tel 07141 / 903363 * fax / 923991
http://neckarwestheim.antiatom.de
- Is the new Gorleben coming into being outside our front door? Information event with Axel Mayer (BUND südlicher Oberrhein), reporting on new and old dangers in the Region Hochrhein. What impact would an incident in the Leibstadt nuclear power station have? And how are people still being played off against each other across the borders? Tuesday 20 April 7.30 p.m. DemoZ Ludwigsburg ( http://www.demoz-lb.de )
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| Read more about: natuur, dier en mens | | supplements | | | And the confusion continues.... | Diet Simon - 16.04.2004 16:51
…or is deliberate?
The “Sächsische Zeitung” wrote the transports will start on 1 June. This was the preferred date Nuclear Cargo und Service had told the NRW interior ministry, the paper said on Friday. But an NRW government spokesman said he knew nothing about that. The paper also said NRW has also invited the police authorities of all states on the route to a conference on Tuesday. Nuclear Cargo und Service would not comment on dates.
Other newspapers report that the transports have been put off until August – which was immediately denied in Dresden. The Dortmund-based Ruhr Nachrichten daily said the company in charge of the former research reactor assumes nothing will happen before August. Present planning was for after mid-year. The paper said the CEO of the reactor company, Axel Richter, would not say why the transports would not begin in June as had been assumed.
Activists say the confusion is making resistance even more urgent. They point to following activities:
· Spring conference of the anti-nuclear movement in Berlin 16 to 18 April.
· 18 April Sunday Strolls in Dresden and Arhaus.
· 26 April, Chernobyl anniversary day, regional demo in Münster, from 6 p.m. at the main railways station.
· Especially important is the action weekend with resistance camp from 29 April to 2 May in Ahaus. It will include an open air concert, demonstration and actions at the uranium enrichment plant in Gronau, “as well as a whole lot of spontaneous stuff round the interim, storage in Ahaus”.
“We don’t trust the confusion game of the politicians, we take action,” says an activist post at http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/04/80244.shtml.
“Join the resistance and familiarise yourselves with the autobahns (motorways) to be used for the transports, especially A4/A44/A2 and A4/A14/A2.”
Homepage: http://www.wigatom.de ¦
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