nuclear phase-out
Before nuclear power plant shutdown: protests against nuclear power in Lingen
Power poles in front of the Emsland nuclear power plant. photo
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
Shortly before the Emsland nuclear power plant was shut down, opponents of nuclear power protested in Lingen for a definitive end to nuclear power in Germany. On Saturday afternoon, opponents of nuclear power gathered in front of the fuel element factory ANF, which belongs to the French Framatome group. A spokesman for the alliance AgiEL – opponents of nuclear power in Emsland spoke of around 300 demonstrators who had gathered. According to a preliminary estimate, a police spokeswoman assumed around 100 participants.
Shortly before the Emsland nuclear power plant was shut down, opponents of nuclear power protested in Lingen for a definitive end to nuclear power in Germany. On Saturday afternoon, opponents of nuclear power gathered in front of the fuel element factory ANF, which belongs to the French Framatome group. A spokesman for the alliance AgiEL – opponents of nuclear power in Emsland spoke of around 300 demonstrators who had gathered. According to a preliminary estimate, a police spokeswoman assumed around 100 participants.
In the early afternoon, the opponents of nuclear power want to take a demonstration train from the fuel element factory to the nearby nuclear power plant, which is to be taken off the grid and shut down on Saturday evening after 35 years of operation. Lower Saxony’s Environment Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) also wants to appear there.
The protest of the opponents of nuclear power is under the motto: “Whoever says nuclear phase-out must also close the fuel element factory!”. A joint venture between Framatome and the Russian state-owned company Rosatom, which wants to produce fuel rods for Eastern European nuclear power plants in Lingen, recently met with criticism. The corresponding application is currently being examined by the Lower Saxony nuclear supervisory authority.
“Such cooperation is scandalous and politically irresponsible,” said Susanne Gerstner, Lower Saxony’s state chairwoman of the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), in a statement. “We urgently call on the responsible Minister for the Environment and Energy, Christian Meyer, to reject the present application by the operating company to expand production!”. The federal and state governments would have to commit to a consistent phase-out of nuclear power, which would also include the end of the fuel element factory in Lingen.
The operator of the fuel element plant, the company ANF, rejected calls for the plant to be closed. “Framatome Advanced Nuclear Fuels (ANF) has an unlimited operating license. The plant has been manufacturing fuel elements at a high safety level for more than 45 years and has always complied with all legal requirements and procedures,” the company said at the request of the German Press Agency.
Alliance for nuclear phase-out Overview of the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment on nuclear facilities RWE information on the Lingen nuclear power plant
