Large parts of Bavaria are considered for a repository for radioactive waste: Experts from the Federal Association for Final Storage are now naming areas – including three in the region.
According to the findings of the Federal Association for Final Storage (BGE), a total of 90 areas in Germany have favorable geological conditions for a nuclear waste repository. A published on Monday Interim report of the BGE also shows large parts of Bavaria as a possible location for a nuclear repository, including areas in Lower Franconia.
Like from one BGE-Graphics shows, there are three so-called sub-areas in the region. All districts in Lower Franconia are affected. So extends an area Coming from Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg via western Lower Franconia and the Rhön to Thuringia and Brandenburg. A second is south of it: It begins in Baden-Württemberg and stretches across Franconia to Saxony and Brandenburg. According to the BGE, disposal in underground granite would be conceivable in both areas.
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How a geologist assesses the region as a repository site
One third sub-area lies in the rock salt deposits in the so-called Werra-Fulda basin. The area extends from Hesse via the Rhön-Grabfeld district to Thuringia. Salt was brought into play earlier “in northern Lower Franconia”. But in 2011 an assessment by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Raw Materials and the Bavarian State Geological Office revealed that the salt domes there were “not powerful enough”. According to this analysis, the Bavarian granite and clay deposits are also unsuitable as host rocks for a repository.
Professor Hartwig Frimmel, geologist at the University of Würzburg, also has doubts about the suitability of the region as a location: “Lower Franconia tends to be unsuitable for a nuclear repository. It depends not only on the right type of rock, but also on how thick and homogeneous it is these are.” For example, the local granite deposits are in principle suitable because of their robust nature. However, the actual geomechanical properties of the rocks are still completely unknown. In addition, they are so deep in the ground that they would be too costly to develop.
State government speaks of “credibility problem”
Even during his time as Environment Minister, Markus Söder (CSU) emphasized that for geological reasons, Bavaria was in principle out of the question as a repository site. On Monday the Prime Minister announced that the Free State would “critically monitor” the search process. The state government will also use its own scientific expertise for this purpose.
Like Söder, the incumbent Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (Free Voters) criticizes the “removal” of the Gorleben salt dome from the search for a repository: “The further process without Gorleben has a credibility problem.” The Lower Saxony salt dome was ruled out as a repository due to instability and is not on the BGE list.
“It will be about finding the location that is the least evil.”
Professor Hartwig Frimmel, geologist at the University of Würzburg–
The green member of the state parliament Patrick Friedl from Würzburg was “shocked” that the state government is now raising doubts about the procedure. On the one hand, the CSU started the process with Prime Minister Horst Seehofer in 2011. In addition, Bavaria, like every federal state, has a responsibility. The Free State and the ruling “former nuclear party CSU”, according to Friedl, have long “been the driving force behind nuclear power”.
Geologist Hartwig Frimmel predicts where the repository will be built will not only depend on scientific considerations: “Ultimately, politicians will have to make the decision. There is no such thing as an optimal location Represents evil. “
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Schweinfurt
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Bad Neustadt
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Würzburg
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Kitzingen
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Aaron Niemeyer
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Benjamin Stahl
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nuclear waste
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CSU
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Free voters
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Geologists
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Horst Seehofer
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State offices
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Markus Söder
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Patrick Friedl
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Thorsten Glauber
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