ACHTUNG! Nuclear energy and waste (non)disposal – Germany Experience

By A View From The Far Side

So, Malaysia is thinking of having its very own nuclear power plants. Never mind that nuclear is neither sustainable, renewable nor cheap. Never mind if Malaysia already has abundant power supply or that its power supply could be sustainably met by other renewable energy sources. Never mind that the expertise is lacking, the security/maintenance culture is not there. Never mind that Malaysia has unscrupulous, inexperienced contractors that seem to get hold of many of the large construction contracts. Never mind that roofs of new buildings collapse or leak ….

However, I would like to point this out: Who produces nuclear energy, must also be responsible for the highly radioactive nuclear waste disposal … . However, many developed countries have not been able to properly dispose of radioactive wastes, and there are questions over the ability of developing nations too. For the simple reason that until now, nobody really knows how to properly dispose of the highly radioactive wastes from nuclear plants!

Specifically, let us take Germany as a brief case study: although Germany is using nuclear energy from nuclear power plants (albeit in dwindling number), up till now, there is no nuclear waste disposal/storage (Endlager) for the high radio-active wastes! Already there have been catastrophes such as in the Asse, Germany’s largest environmental problem.

From the beginning, the Asse was already deemed as an unsuitable location for low- and medium-radioactive nuclear wastes storage, let alone for highly radioactive wastes. However, these warnings were not heeded. Water that enters the Asse saltworks where radioactive materials were stored contaminate the groundwater or other resources. It was mentioned that the Cesium level is 8x more than the allowed level.

Asse was the first disposal area, a long-term ‘experiment’ with the final results that Asse is not suitable. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIzpZOew4VQ&feature=related. Note that this video is in German but it shows the unexpected leaks and the corroding metal bins.) Capitulation to reality: the German authorities finally decided to relocate the radioactive wastes from Asse, costing billions of Euro. The previous and new storage areas must also be under tight security control which also carries a high cost. Who says nuclear energy is cheap? (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUh2kZdOMZg&feature=related. Note that this video is in German. This video shows the danger of radioactive wastes).

Politics of nuclear energy and radioactive wastes disposal: For example, in the 70s, the CDU leader of the then-West Germany, Ernst Albrecht, made a political decision that a high radioactive nuclear wastes storage will be built in the saltworks (salzswerk) deep beneath the town of Gorleben in northern Germany. Despite the recommendations from scientific/geological experts that a porous, damp saltwork is not a stable location for such dangerous materials, Albrecht made this political decision as Gorleben was near the boundary to the then-East Germany as well as far away from CDU electoral stronghold in the south. (Ironically, Czechkoslovakia in 2009 announced that it will build a nuclear waste storage area near the boundary to south Germany!).

Today, the current CDU-FDP government headed by Angela Merkel still highly supports the use of nuclear energy but these same CDU politicians continue to refuse nuclear disposal or storage areas to be located in their electoral strongholds such as in Bayern, south Germany. Mainly because the Bavarian people who elected them there would strongly oppose the nuclear waste storage sites in their areas, and CDU would lose votes and seats in government!

About ten years ago, the Environment Minister from the Green Party set a 10-year moratorium on the choice of Gorleben as a high radioactive nuclear disposal site. The moment the moratorium lapsed 10 years after, the CDU decided to revive Gorleben as THE place for high radioactive waste storage. However, scientific experts in Germany have stated that Gorleben is not suitable as a radioactive waste storage or disposal area, and these experts think that it would have been better not to have started nuclear energy, as the regretful ensuing problems are without solutions. (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsiGhikMg3Y&feature=related. Note that this video is in German).

Many demonstrations by Das Volk (The People) ensued and still happening. For example, 100,000 people marched in Berlin against the nuclear energy recently (18 Sept 2010). See here: http://www.anti-atom-demo.de/.

Up to now, there is no proper disposal area for high-radioactive wastes in Germany. A recent German poll shows that support for CDU has rapidly dwindled, while support for the Green Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has increased tremendously. Let’s learn from the nuclear chaos that haunts Germany till today that may well spell the downfall of the Merkel-led government in the upcoming election – for not listening to the voices of The People/Das Volk! Energy without
Nuclear!

In Malaysia, there is no need for nuclear energy as there is a variety of renewable energy that Malaysia can harness. Moreover, in view of the fact that Malaysia is located near the Pacific Ring of Fire where earthquakes, and tremblors from volcanic eruptions from nearby Indonesia have been felt in Malaysia, the safety of nuclear power plants and of disposal sites is highly questionable.

Nuclear power plants and disposal sites should be in areas where it is not porous, not near fault lines, where there is no geological crust movements and certainly not near earthquake-prone areas.

The People of Malaysia choose a government that is concerned with our concerns, our well-being.