Hundreds of nuclear opponents demonstrate in Germany

The operators of the Ahaus prefab concrete hall where spent fuel is kept have applied for its broader use. The hall is owned by the nuclear power industry.
The safety conditions for the expansion were inadequate, said Matthias Eickhoff, spokesman for the Münsterland Action Alliance Against Nuclear Installations.
He said the public were inadequately informed about the plans.
The operating company has applied for a permit to store weakly and medium radioactive material in the hall as well as highly active waste from nuclear reactors.
Eickhoff said an expanded usage permit could also bring to Ahaus weakly irradiated parts of decommissioned power stations and medium-radioactive waste from fuel rods of German power stations after processing in La Hague, France.
But there were no safe storage places, he said. It was planned that weakly radioactive material would be stored without containers.
“Some atomic waste is to be stored unpackaged,” said Eickhoff.
The nuclear opponents turned with whistles and placards against inadequate information of people.
"We fear that this is going to be made a final dump,” said a woman from Ahaus. Nothing was being revealed about just what was to be stored, nor where the material could originate.
The protest was also directed against regular transports of uranium right through North-Rhine Westphalia, the most densely populated state.
Eickhoff said the transports to supply Germany’s only enrichment plant at Gronau were being kept totally secret and were dangerous.
"If one wants to credibly get out of atomic energy one has to first get out of uranium, enrichment.”