Monday, December 27, 2021
Block C of the former largest German nuclear power plant in Gundremmingen also goes offline. The Federal Nature Conservation Association: “The shining legacy remains – next to the nuclear power plant is Germany’s largest interim storage facility.” The Bund Naturschutz is planning a vigil for New Year’s Eve – the expansion of renewable energies should now be pushed ahead consistently.
“The day of the final shutdown is a day of joy, after all, the BN fought against the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant for over 40 years,” explains BN and BUND honorary chairman Hubert Weiger: “My thanks go above all to the many active BN members and supporters who have been committed to shutting down this dangerous nuclear power plant over the past few decades. You have shown staying power, which paid off in the end. Even if the shutdown was also the result of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, it would not have happened without the demonstrations of the broad anti-nuclear movement. “
Alexander Ohgke, chairman of the BN district group Günzburg emphasizes: “The German nuclear power plants were only switched off after several disasters, such as in Chernobyl and Fukushima. Not doing anything now would be fatal in view of climate change. The energy transition, supported by citizens and the municipalities, must be accelerated by saving energy and expanding renewable energies, especially in Bavaria. “
“What is still unresolved is what should happen to the highly radioactive nuclear waste,” explains Rita Jubt, long-time BN district chairman and fighter against the nuclear power plant. “The highly radioactive nuclear waste, which is expected to lie in the Gundremminger interim storage facility for decades, is still a great danger for all of southern Germany.”
On December 31, 2021, BN members will celebrate the shutdown with numerous allies from 3 p.m. at a vigil at the nuclear power plant, but at the same time point out the continuing risks of nuclear waste. The earth’s deadly nuclear waste will remain for over a million years. Germany’s largest nuclear waste storage facility is located next to the nuclear power plant. Although the permit for the “interim storage facility” expires in 2046, it can be assumed that the nuclear waste will remain there for a long time to come.
Background: The history of the BN district group Günzburg is closely linked to the nuclear power plant. The lawyer Karsten Schulz-Ninow complained in the 1970s against the commissioning of units B and C and was elected first chairman of the BN district group on January 21, 1977, an office that he passed on only in 2021 with an interruption by Rita Jubt. Large demonstrations, objections in further approval procedures, lawsuits and state parliament petitions followed in the past decades. Some more successful, some less successful. But in the end there is social consensus that nuclear power must be stopped.
Summary chronicle of the activities of the BN on the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant:
- Legal action by Clementine Rothenstein and Karsten Schultz-Ninow as lawyers against the commissioning of the two new reactors B and C and the so-called compact storage facility in the 1970s. In this context, the BN district group Günzburg was founded in 1977. The lawyer Karsten Schultz-Ninow was elected as the first chairman.
- At the beginning of the 1990s, 40,000 objections were raised against the use of MOX fuel elements containing plutonium, mainly from BN activists; Participation in the hearing procedure 1993 in Augsburg;
- 1994–1997: Protests and actions against the Castor transports together with the Gundremmingen vigil
- 1997: Founding of the citizens’ initiative “Energiewende atomkraftfreies Schwa-ben e. V. “(EWaS) by BN-Aktives with the aim of establishing a better energy policy with renewable energies.
- 2000: Foundation of the FORUM “Together against the interim storage facility and a responsible energy policy” with a focus on the planned interim storage facility. Some BN members were founding members and henceforth got involved in both the BN and the BIs, including at the big demo in Günzburg on June 24th, 2001 together with FORUM
- BN objections to the planned interim storage facility and participation in the large hearing in October 2001, now under the leadership of district chairwoman Rita Jubt.
- Thereafter, various lawsuits up to the Federal Constitutional Court, mostly jointly by FORUM and BN, which unfortunately were all rejected.
- 2011 after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima: Large demonstration in an alliance against the operation of boiling water reactors in Gundremmingen
- 2013: BN and FORUM collect 33,700 signatures against the power expansion of the nuclear power plant, handover in the state parliament. In March 2013, several thousand people demonstrated in Günzburg under the motto “Switch off instead of expanding”. The request to expand the service is withdrawn.
- December 31, 2017: Block B will be shut down, and Block C on December 31, 2021. The radiant garbage will remain dangerous for over a million years.
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