Germany to restart search for nuclear waste site after riots

Nov 11, 2011, 13:04 GMT

Berlin - Germany announced Friday it would start again the search for a site for an underground dump for high-grade nuclear waste, after frequent riots at the existing planned site, Gorleben.

Violent demonstrations against waste arriving at Gorleben have been an annual event for years.

For 35 years, miners have been digging in a salt formation at Gorleben, northern Germany. Engineers say massive formations of rock salt or pure clay are the best places to dump used nuclear fuel, because they are very dry.

Meanwhile, shipping containers of waste have accumulated in sheds above ground as the government in Berlin agonizes over whether it is safe to use the storage hole.

Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen met officials from the 16 states and said drafting of a law setting out the procedures to reselect a site would begin soon. Engineering work at Gorleben will continue. No other sites for a shortlist have been named yet.

Germany decided in summer to abandon all nuclear power generation by 2022.

Officials are to draft a plan by next summer on how to mould a national consensus on the issue, and Gorleben may emerge as Germany's choice after all.

Passions over nuclear waste are so high that it will be difficult to persuade residents of any region to accept a dump. Closing the Gorleben caverns, which have never been used, would mean abandoning 1.6 billion euros (2.1 billion dollars) of engineering work.