German anti-nuclear groups decry planned radioactive waste shipments

German anti-nuclear campaigners and the environmental group BUND have urged politicians to halt plans for transporting high-level radioactive waste to the western town of Ahaus, warning of legal uncertainties and safety risks.

In an open letter released on Tuesday addressed to Environment Minister Carsten Schneider and top officials in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the campaigners called for "last-minute talks" between federal and state authorities.

The centre-left Social Democrats (SDP), which are in opposition in the state, said last week they expect imminent transport permits for containers of radioactive waste bound for Ahaus.

The SPD said the permits are for 152 containers from a former research reactor in Jülich, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The anti-nuclear activists and BUND described the plan as "a mammoth undertaking lasting four to eight years, over crumbling motorways, that makes absolutely no sense."

They point out that the current licence for the Ahaus interim storage facility expires in 2036, and the process for a new permit will not begin until 2028.

The group No Nuclear Waste in Ahaus argued the transports would take place against a murky legal backdrop and noted that the existing storage hall in Ahaus is among the oldest in Germany "with the thinnest walls."

They accused federal and state authorities of failing for years to seek a sustainable solution for storing the fuel elements in Jülich. No nuclear waste should be moved, they argued, until Germany resolves the issue of a permanent repository.