Germany: Sixth nuclear waste container transport underway in North Rhine-Westphalia

Motorists in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia region face road closures as a sixth transport of nuclear waste begins its journey. A Castor container, carrying highly radioactive material from the former Jülich research reactor, is being moved to the Ahaus interim storage facility.

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Motorists in North Rhine-Westphalia must currently expect closures on sections of the autobahn in the Rhineland and Münsterland due to another nuclear waste transport.

This operation, the sixth since late March, involves a heavy-duty transporter and is under heavy police protection. Hundreds of officers are deployed at the start, destination, and along the route, which spans approximately 170 kilometers and takes about four hours. Police are closing affected highway sections during the transport, with exact routes kept secret for security reasons.

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It is the sixth Castor since the start of the transports across NRW since the end of March.

The containers are transporting a total of nearly 288,000 fuel elements from the experimental reactor, which operated from 1967 to 1988. Each loaded Castor container weighs around 27 tons, with the entire truck and container combination nearing 130 tons. A total of 152 Castor containers are slated for delivery to Ahaus.

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The route and alternative routes will not be announced in advance for security reasons.

The move is mandated by the North Rhine-Westphalia nuclear regulatory authority, which ordered the Jülich storage site to be cleared due to unproven earthquake safety. This series of transports represents one of the most significant road movements of nuclear waste in recent decades.

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The first five night transports of one Castor container each across NRW had previously proceeded without incident in recent weeks.