The new CDU-Green coalition in the North Rhine-Westphalia government has negative implications for the decade-long effort to dump German spent fuel on the Savannah River Site. That spent fuel is from the long-closed AVR gas-cooled reactor and the spent fuel is stored at Jülich.
The CDU-Green coalition agreement says this:
“We are committed to minimizing nuclear transports. This also applies to transports from other federal states. In the case of the fuel elements stored in Jülich fuel elements stored in Jülich, this means that we are pushing ahead with the option of building a new interim storage facility in Jülich. To increase transparency, we will publish an annual report on the nuclear transports carried out in North Rhine-Westphalia in the previous year.”
See article in the Aachener Nachrichten, 24 June 2022:
“Atommüll soll vorerst in Jülich bleiben” (“Nuclear waste to remain in Jülich for the time being”)
And, a member of the Bundestag and opponent of the dumping scheme is becoming environment minister in NRW:
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We are thrilled at this good news against the dumping-for-profit scheme backed by some at SRS and in DOE. Meanwhile, the cooperation between Jülich and the Savannah River National Lab must cease. See SRS Watch post of April 11, 2022:
“DOE-Germany Cooperation to Dump German Highly Radioactive Spent Fuel at SRS Continues, Violates Nuclear Non-Proliferation Norms” – https://srswatch.org/doe-germany-cooperation-to-dump-germany-spent-fuel-at-srs-continues-violates-nuclear-non-proliferation-norms/
SRS Watch update of July 13, 2022: Status of Savannah River Site JEN cooperation July 13 2022
>> Comprehensive report by SRS Watch on the scheme to import and dump German spent fuel at SRS, January 10, 2023:
Auf Widersehen to DOE Nuclear Waste Dumping Scheme – linked here:
Auf Wiedersehen victory on German spent fuel import SRS Watch Jan 10 2023