Scholz on nuclear waste storage facility: need to speak after Swiss choice of repository

Chancellor Scholz has announced that he will discuss the Swiss choice for a nuclear waste repository directly on the border with Baden-Württemberg with the Confederates. German nuclear waste should not be stored at the Nördlich Lägern site.

After Switzerland’s decision to build a nuclear waste repository near the German border, the federal government expects support from the communities affected. The facility near the border will “also put a heavy burden on the communities on the German side,” said a spokesman for the Federal Environment Ministry in Berlin. There are already talks with Switzerland about “compensation payments for regional development”. Switzerland has signaled willingness to make such payments.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government would “have to discuss the location decision with the Swiss government”. Deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said the federal government had “taken note” of the Swiss decision and would now examine it. So far, the German side has been “well integrated into the selection process,” and the federal government hopes “that this will continue,” said Hoffmann.

Baden-Württemberg’s environment minister, Thekla Walker, said in Stuttgart that she expects “cross-border participation” in the Swiss government’s further course of action. The location decision “clearly shows that the neighboring population of Baden-Württemberg makes a major contribution to the disposal of Swiss nuclear waste,” she explained. “From our point of view, this must be adequately reflected in the upcoming compensation negotiations.”

After almost 50 years of searching, the Swiss authorities decided on the Nördlich Lägern region, not far from the German municipality of Hohentengen, as the location for a nuclear waste repository. According to Swiss experts, this is the safest place for radioactive waste. The radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, industry and research is to be buried hundreds of meters deep in the Swiss repository.

“The geology has spoken”

For purely geological reasons, the Nördlich Lägern region was the best choice among the three sites tested, said Matthias Braun, head of the National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra), in Bern. “It’s a clear decision. The geology has spoken.”

The necessary rock layer of Opalinus Clay is there deepest under the earth’s surface, the layer is thickest and the possible area for the planned repository is largest. In Nördlich Lägern, traces of the oldest water were found in the rock layer: 175 million years old. That gives him the confidence to make long-term forecasts, Braun said. “The rock is very dense, binds radioactive materials like a magnet, and should it break, it heals itself.”

Germany does not want to use camps

According to the Federal Environment Ministry in Berlin, there are no plans to use the planned repository for German waste of this type. This was explained by a ministry spokesman when asked. “Germany has decided to construct its own repository for its nuclear waste and not together with European partners. We are responsible for our waste,” the spokesman said. However, Germany will probably not determine the storage location until 2031.

The deputy director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy had previously said: “It is a recognized principle that each country must dispose of its own waste.”

The Swiss Federal Office of Energy and the Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (Ensi) now want to examine Nagra’s proposals in the approval process. In addition to four Swiss professors, four German professors are also represented in the Ensi expert group for deep geological repositories. Ensi emphasized that the approval had not yet been decided. In the most favorable case, construction could begin in 2031 and storage in 2050.

The government and parliament must approve the project. A referendum can then also be held against a decision, so that Swiss voters could ultimately have the last word.