18 Ahaus runs - not enough shock absorbers

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
 http://akw-abschalten.claranet.de/faak.html

- 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 )