News from the anti-nuclear power movement in Germany.

(from: Bürgerinitiative Umweltschutz Lüchow-Dannenberg e.V. <[email protected]> [Gorleben])(shortened)

March 28, 2026

Dear Friends,

Spring is here, and we are looking forward with energy to the events that lie ahead. Unfortunately, the awakening of spring has also set things in motion that we had hoped would remain stable, quite literally.

We have been reporting continuously on the escalating situation in Ahaus, Brokdorf, and Bure (France), and at all three “hotspots,” there are sobering developments, which we will report on in this newsletter.

The board recently reported on developments within the association at the annual general meeting. These developments are neither sobering nor characterized by stagnation. With eight members on the board, the association is well-positioned for the upcoming tasks and is preparing for its grand 50th anniversary next year.

In the events section, we will return to the other hotspots and look at some events surrounding the Chernobyl anniversary. Traditionally, the Easter marches precede these events, and we would like to draw your attention to our nearest regional actions in Stendal and Unterlüß.

Castor Transports to Ahaus – The Madness on the Roads

So, they’re rolling again. The first of a total of 152 Castor containers began its pointless 170 km journey from Jülich to Ahaus on March 24, 2026, shortly after 10 p.m. The 130-ton transport arrived there around 2 a.m. without any major disruptions. The longest, most expensive, and most unnecessary transport to an interim storage facility, identical in design to the one in Gorleben, has begun. The Gorleben interim storage facility, with its mere 20 cm thick ceiling, is only approved until 2036, meaning that a new permit will be required there in the foreseeable future, just as in Gorleben. Instead, a robust storage facility should have been built in Jülich.

Castor Transport to Brokdorf Approved

At the beginning of March, our office received photographs and descriptions of alleged Castor transports in the Gorleben area. However, what was being transported was not nuclear waste, but rather transport covers of the type typically used for road transport.

Thank you for the numerous observations and feedback we received, which allowed us to conduct further investigations. We can now confirm that at least three transport covers have set off northward. The trail ends in Lüneburg.

Recently, the upcoming transport from Sellafield, UK, to the Brokdorf nuclear power plant was officially approved. It is therefore expected that the transport date is drawing ever closer. Whether the covers from Gorleben are intended for use in the Castor road transport—or whether they were scrapped—is currently unclear.

The Train Station Is in Andra’s Way – Court Orders Eviction

A small train station is standing in the way of plans to realize the French nuclear waste repository project in Bure.

Many years ago, anti-nuclear activists managed to buy the small station. Since then, this small patch of land has become a site of resistance against French nuclear policy and the planned repository.

Only through expropriation proceedings were the ownership rights redefined by the French state. However, the activists on site continue to oppose the plans and have not vacated the station.

A few days ago, a court ruled that the station must be cleared by the police. The people on site intend to remain and are asking for support from as many people as possible.

At the opening of the nuclear energy summit, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) described the move away from nuclear power in Europe as a “strategic mistake.” Private investors in nuclear power should have their risk insured to the tune of €200 million.

Of all people, von der Leyen, as if she had never heard of what her father had unleashed 49 years earlier, on February 22, 1977, when he designated Gorleben as the site for a nuclear waste disposal center (NEZ). Her father, the Lower Saxony Minister-President Ernst Albrecht (CDU), had already reversed course two years later under the pressure of mass protests, stating that the core component of the NEZ, a reprocessing plant, was “technically feasible, but politically unacceptable.” At the same time, he stuck to the plans to build a final repository in the Gorleben-Rambow salt dome, stating that nuclear waste disposal was to be carried out before

Ernst Albrecht (CDU), her father, had already backed down two years later under the pressure of the mass protests, stating that the core of the NEZ, a reprocessing plant, was “technically feasible, but politically unfeasible.” At the same time, he clung to the plans to build a final repository in the Gorleben-Rambow salt dome, arguing that nuclear waste disposal was a priority, as he wrote to then-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD). At least that much is now history.

New data on the search for a final repository will not be available until autumn – Citizens’ Initiative: “The waiting continues” – Criticism of the planned amendment to the Site Selection Act

The Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE) is postponing another timeline: It now intends to present the next interim report on the search for suitable final repository sites on October 27, 2026 – instead of the originally planned June 24. This leads to a series of delays: Just recently, the BGE (Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal) had to admit that the retrieval plan for the nuclear waste in the damaged Asse II repository is also untenable.