Germany draws up new plan to dispose of nuclear waste

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/germany-draws-up-new-plan-to-dispose-of-nuclear-waste/a-18645069

The German government has presented its plan for permanently disposing of nuclear waste. Critics say the proposal is a tacit admission that it is a bigger problem than it has ever acknowledged before.

Germany draws up new plan to dispose of nuclear waste
Ben Knight
12.08.2015

Pausing only to get the okay from the cabinet, Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks gave a press conference on Wednesday to present the government's brand new plan for dealing with radioactive waste.

The plan foresees two locations: one site for low- to medium-radioactive waste is already being converted - the Konrad Shaft, part of a disused iron ore mine near the town of Salzgitter in northern Germany. But the other location, for highly radioactive waste, has yet to be found.

The new news is that Konrad would not be extended, as had been previously proposed, and this unknown new location would therefore also have to house any radioactive waste produced between now and 2022, when Germany plans to shut down its last reactor.

Long-term danger

But the plan for dealing with the waste has a much longer time-scale, one which makes clear just how dangerous nuclear waste is to dispose of. Next year, a parliamentary commission will present its findings on the options, but an actual location won't be chosen until 2031, and it will take until 2050 to convert that site until it is ready to store the waste. The process of moving the waste there will then take several more decades.

[djean111]

1. Yes, we need to make a lot more of that stuff! Let the kids worry about what to do with it. n/t

[ladjf]

2. ... and we need to STOP producing nuclear waste. There are better ways to

supply our energy than nuclear. nt