GERMANY • NUCLEAR The licensing procedure to re-open the Konrad iron ore mine in Lower Saxony as a repository for radioactive waste is expected to reach completion soon. However, operation of the licence is likely to be long delayed by the anti-nuclear lobby.
Planning permission was likely to come from the Lower Saxony Federal state ministry in April. Ministers have already agreed to the completion of the licence procedure – if they rejected it, the Federal government would have to pay compensation to the German utilities which have so far spent 1600 million DM in exploration and surveying. However the licence cannot be issued with immediate effect. The recently established nature protection law allows organisations and individuals to take legal action thether or not they are directly affected. Such cases may be pursued all the way to the Federal court, a process that will take years if not decades.
The original figure for the quantity of radioactive waste to be stored will probably be reduced from 650 000 m3 to 303 000 m3, the amount of radioactive waste expected from the operation and decommissioning of current German nuclear power plants.