“The experiment”

The new law for finding a permanent nuclear repository in Germany aims “to offer proof that an enlightened society can find a place for the waste that nobody wants to have,” Michael Bauchmüller writes in a commentary for Süddeutsche Zeitung. But for this to be the case, “things need to be different from Gorleben,” he explains. [Gorleben, Germany’s temporary nuclear storage site, has been the theatre of vibrant resistance by locals for decades.] “Of course, affected citizens will protest against any final repository,” Bauchmüller writes. The state now needs to ensure the search will be conducted patiently and transparently. “This experiment can fail at many stages. But if it succeeds, the whole society will benefit from it,” Bauchmüller writes.

Read the commentary in German here.