When the excavators rolled up in Gorleben

On January 26, 1982, construction of the nuclear waste interim storage facility in Gorleben began. Since then there have been massive protests in Wendland for decades. Because the salt dome in Gorleben was also considered a potential repository for a long time.

Since the nuclear waste interim storage facility in Gorleben, Lower Saxony, has been in operation, 13 Castor transports have gone there. Opponents of nuclear power have tried 13 times to obstruct transport. When the Castor was last transported to Gorleben in 2011, it was heavier than ever. After the reactor disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011, the movement gained new momentum.

The history of the interim storage facility is also one of protest

At least one question has been clarified since September 2020:The salt dome in Gorleben is out of the question as a site for a German repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste, as the Federal Agency for Disposal (BGE) announced at the time. A year later, the Federal Environment Ministry announced that the exploratory mine in Gorleben was to be finally shut down and dismantled. But it wasn't just the risk of a possible final repository that had brought people in Wendland onto the streets on a regular basis. There was also repeated resistance to the transport cask storage facility, in which casks with highly radioactive waste from the French reprocessing plant in La Hague are temporarily stored. So the story of the interim storage facility is also one of protest.

Nuclear waste against "infrastructure aid"

The construction work on this interim storage facility, which is about two kilometers from the center of Gorleben, begins on January 26, 1982. The district council, the joint municipality of Gartow (almost unanimously) and the municipality of Gorleben had approved the construction in the summer of 1981 - the approval means a " infrastructure aid" in the millions. The land use and development plan had been laid out in the communities and had prompted a total of almost 2,000 objections from citizens. However, these remain unconsidered.

A nuclear waste storage facility in the middle of a conservation area

In March 1981, the "Elbe-Jeetzel-Zeitung" wrote about a council meeting in Gartow:"While only a few minutes were allowed to deal with the more than 650 objections raised at the earlier public participation, the joint municipal council devoted hours to the submissions from official and semi-official bodies. " Exactly 15 hectares are estimated for the construction of the plant. The area is in the middle of a conservation area. Shortly after the site was fenced off, the municipalities received a grant of five million marks, followed by one million marks annually.

"How dare you, don't shoot him!"

Even before construction begins, the people of Wendland know what a nuclear waste dump would mean for their region. From day one, when the then Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Ernst Albrecht (CDU) announced on February 22, 1977 that a disposal center and a reprocessing plant for nuclear waste would be built in Gorleben, the protest movement was formed. The citizens' initiative, which is still active today, was founded in March. Around 20,000 demonstrators attended the first major rally in Gorleben on March 12, 1977. In 1979, a trek with 350 tractors set off for Hanover and farmer Heinrich Pothmer said something in front of around 100,000 demonstrators in the city center that has since stood for the Gorleben protest:"My dear Mr. Albrecht, how awful are you, don't shoot him!"

Creative protest with the "Republic of Free Wendland"

If we don't like the attitude of the government, we just create our own state. That's what anti-nuclear activists say to themselves in 1980 - and without further ado proclaim the "Republic of Free Wendland". There should be no nuclear waste storage, instead they are building a hut storage at the future borehole 1004, five kilometers from Gorleben. Round huts, a clinic, a children's house are made of wood and clay, and even warm water flows, thanks to home-made solar cells. There is also a church, but the pastor is banned from preaching by his superiors. Many onlookers watch the hustle and bustle. After a month, politicians intervened and had 10,000 police officers evacuated from the camp. The huts will be destroyed.

Structurally weak, but opinionated

The plan for a reprocessing plant in Gorleben was quickly dismissed, but the state government did not withdraw the application for approval. It stays with the construction of an interim storage facility. Castor casks with high-level radioactive material are to be stored there, and casks with low-level and medium-level radioactive waste in a hall.

The state government had apparently hoped to be able to push through the plans in the sparsely populated Wendland, where jobs are urgently needed, without significant resistance. But the protest spread beyond the borders of Wendland throughout the Federal Republic. Opponents of nuclear power agree:"Gorleben is everywhere!"

16 years of Castor transports to the interim storage facility

In April 1995, the first Castor transport rolls towards the new Gorleben interim storage facility - and encounters massive resistance. Around 15,000 police and border guards (today:Federal Police) secure the train, batons and water cannons are used - the start of a ritual that will be repeated in this or a similar way on all subsequent transports.

The 13th and for the time being the last Castor transport to Wendland in November 2011 broke all records when it came to protests:the train took 126 hours, longer than ever before. More than 100 blockades with thousands of activists delay the onward journey. The costs also mark a new record:the then Interior Minister Uwe Schünemann (CDU) estimated the burden on the state treasury at around 33.5 million euros.

The repository discussion:Why Gorleben?

Parallel to the Castor transports, another debate is smoldering about Gorleben:the Kohl government wants the interim storage facility to become a repository for nuclear waste in the long term. The question of how this decision came about will concern society and politics for a long time:The Gorleben investigative committee, set up by the SPD, Greens and Leftists, is to clarify the circumstances under which the salt dome was selected as a possible repository site from March 2010. The assumption:The Prime Minister at the time, Albrecht, made the decision for purely political, not scientific, reasons. After three years of work, however, there will not be a joint final report.

Dangers covered up by the Kohl government?

The federal government under Helmut Kohl (CDU) is also in focus:According to reports, it is said to have tried to sweep concerns about the Gorleben site under the table. As early as 1983, the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in Hanover presented an interim report in which experts warned, among other things, of possible weak points and possible incidents. The risk could be "reduced by precautionary exploration measures at other locations".

Helmut Röthemeyer, then head of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTA) and head of the expert group, said later in retrospect on Deutschlandradio Kultur that the scientists had been informed by representatives of the federal ministries at the time that a second location was not acceptable. The instruction was to "move the presumably hypothetical accident involving the inflow of water and lye a little further from the center of attention".

Gorleben as repository? Experts warn early

At the time, scientists were quite divided on the question of whether Gorleben was suitable as a repository site. Warnings come from two North German experts, among others:From 1979 to 1981, the Kiel geologist Klaus Duphorn carried out investigations and gave the clear recommendation:"Exploration of other deposits!" The Hamburg geographer Eckhard Grimmel is just as clear. In a statement by Grimmel from 1993 it says:"The undersigned recommends (...) not only to end the exploration of the Gorleben site, but also to refrain from exploring other salt dome sites, since the barrier effect of salt domes is increasing is low to ensure long-term isolation of a repository."

The shaft accident in 1987

Grimmel had already warned in 1984, but the government assessed the danger situation differently and continued to explore the salt dome. The salt is said to be stabilized by freezing. When the chillers did not reach the required temperature and water rushed into the two shafts, the mine was additionally secured with support rings. A daring experiment with fatal consequences, as it turned out in 1987:A support ring weighing 1.5 tons came loose in shaft 1 and fell from a height of five meters onto the bottom of the shaft. A miner is killed and six others are seriously injured.

Exploration mine:First exploration stops, then the end

The exploratory work in the Gorleben mine is interrupted several times due to safety concerns and the questionable fundamental suitability of a salt dome, even for ten years from the year 2000 onwards - a decision by the red-green federal government. In the course of the Site Selection Act - also known as the Repository Search Act - the exploration work on the Gorleben salt dome will be completely ended in 2013. But the concerns in Wendland remain:mistrust of those responsible for the new search for a national nuclear waste repository from 2017 is great. The suspicion:the search is probably not open-ended as promised by the federal government.

In September 2020, the opponents of nuclear power in Wendland finally have reason to celebrate:the Gorleben salt dome is out of the search. The Federal Environment Ministry cites geological defects as the reason. This development would not have been possible without the "tireless resistance" of citizens and activists, said the organization's spokesman, Jochen Stay, who died in January 2022. However, there is still a drop of bitterness:Other areas in Lower Saxony remain in the test procedure, such as Wippingen in the Emsland district.

113 castors are now in interim storage

And while the dismantling of the exploratory mine in Gorleben has been decided, there are still 113 castors with highly radioactive nuclear waste in the interim storage facility. The approval of the interim storage facility is limited to December 31, 2034. However, given the current status of the search for a repository, it is likely that interim storage will also be necessary beyond 2034. The Gorleben activists should remain vigilant.