Agency Report –
A large majority of Germans supports the country’s search for a permanent storage site for nuclear waste, according to a survey conducted almost two years after the country stopped producing nuclear energy.
For years, German authorities have been searching for a geologically safe site to store around 27,000 cubic metres of nuclear waste, accumulated in more than 60 years of nuclear power generation.
Berlin has set itself a 2050 deadline to identify a location where the hazardous radioactive waste can be stored underground for 1 million years.
In the survey, the results of which are due to be published on Monday, 70% of respondents said they were in favour of the process, while 19% expressed opposition. 11% of those surveyed gave no answer.
Support for the project rises to 75% among those in favour of Germany’s nuclear phase out, compared to 69% of those who believe the country should still be producing nuclear power.
Boost from survey
The representative nationwide survey is conducted every two years on behalf of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE).
BASE President Christian Kühn interpreted the survey as a boost for the search process, following recent criticism by some politicians during Germany’s election campaign.
Markus Söder, the leader of Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union, had called for a re-evaluation of the process, arguing that the United States was “increasingly developing reactors” that focused on the high reusability of fuel rods.
Speed up search
“The survey clearly shows that people in Germany overwhelmingly support the search for a repository. The political consensus that led to the scientifically based and nationwide search for a repository continues to be supported by the population,” Kühn said.
However, the survey also showed that people’s acceptance depended in part on how long it would take to identify a location, Kühn noted.
“Therefore, the search for a repository must be accelerated to maintain long-term acceptance,” he added.
