German participation in new nuclear arms race
Wanneer: 15/03/2019 - 15:57
With votes of the three co-governing social democrat and conservative parties, the opposition Liberals and the far-right Alternative for Germany, the German parliament has defeated two bills tabled by the opposition Greens and The Left aimed at shutting down the uranium enrichment plant at Gronau and the fuel assemblies plant at Lingen as well as ending uranium fuel exports.
The Münster-based anti-nuclear activists of SOFA see “the ending of nuclear power continuing to be blocked with ideological arguments like ‘Germany must not lose the last bit of competence in nuclear energy’ and so on.
“With that, CDU, CSU and SPD [the government] continue at full pelt to supply enriched uranium and fuel elements to high-risk power stations like Tihange, Doel (both in Belgium), Cattenom, Fessenheim (both in France), Leibstadt (Switzerland) and Olkiluoto (Finland).
“They’re allowing [major German power generators] RWE and EON (= Urenco) as well as EDF/Framatome (French) to keep raking in the cash on a grand scale.
“The Bundestag vote came practically exactly eight years after the Fukushima disaster. The learning curve in the Bundestag [598 members] is very flat,” SOFA commented.
“Anyone who thought dropping nuclear power in Germany was more or less done and dusted should have a listen to the Bundestag speeches.”
Here are three links to them (in German obviously):
https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/westfalen-lippe/urananreicherung-gronau-...
https://www.wn.de/Muensterland/3701970-Abstimmung-Bundestag-entscheidet-...
https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2019/kw11-de-fukushima-595194
SOFA asserts that new research has revealed that RWE/EON and the German government have approved Urenco joining the contentious civil-military area of higher enrichment in the USA to about 20% U 235.
Also involved in this will be Urenco’s centrifuge technology subsidiary Enrichment Technology Company Limited, based in four European countries, as well as the Forschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich Research Centre), one of the largest interdisciplinary research centres in Europe.
“That means that at a time of international nuclear rearmament a new atomic spiral will be started with German participation with highly uncertain consequences.
“That is the ‘competence’ the federal government is keen to keep.”
“Let’s give a powerful and loud answer to the ongoing nuclear course of the federal government, Urenco, RWE and EON – on to Gronau for an immediate nuclear phase-out and complete nuclear disarmament.
“Please mobilise for the Easter March, because only together we can successfully raise the pressure for a phase-out. And don’t let us allow nuclear and coal to be played off against each other in the end.
“Coal is no substitute for Tihange and nuclear is no climate saviour!”
19 April: Call to Easter March to the Gronau plant
It’s up to activists to keep the struggle going, argues SOFA, referring to a recent “succesfull” demo by 1,400 protesters and nearly 80 farmer-driven tractors at Ahaus, a nuclear waste depot 44 km in a straight line from Münster.
They’re calling for support for a march on the waste depot on Good Friday 19 April. Start is around 1 p.m. at Gronau railway station, a shuttle bus will operate for the return.
Joint departure from Münster is at 12.08 p.m. by regional train (meet at Treffpunkt Reisezentrum in the main station at 11.45 a.m.).