The collective objection drawn up by the Salzgitter-Peine metalworkers' union (IG Metall), Arbeitsgemeinschaft (AG) Schacht Konrad, Landvolk Braunschweiger Land and the town of Salzgitter and supported by the town council has now been signed by thousands of residents.
Anyone wishing to join the objection can sign the signature lists, which are available at the IG Metall trade union headquarters, the Konrad-Haus in Bleckenstedt and the Citizens' Center at Salzgitter-Llebenstedt Town Hall, as well as at the Salzgitter Bad branch ("Kleines Rathaus") and the town library and all its branches. This network is constantly being expanded.
It is also available on the city's website at www.salzgitter.de - simply print it out, fill it in and send it to AG Schacht Konrad. The objection will also soon be advertised in Salzgitter's newspapers. The completed lists will be handed over to the responsible representatives at the Ministry of the Environment in Berlin at the end of May 2015.
The objection campaign will be accompanied by many public campaigns. The 1st representative of IGM, Wolfgang Räschke, Ludwig Wasmus from AG Schacht Konrad, the Chairman of Landvolk Braunschweiger Land, Ulrich Löhr, and Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel presented the next steps of the broad-based information campaign, which had already received the approval of the Salzgitter City Council on April 29, at a press conference on April 30.
From May 6, more than 20 large posters are expected to inform the population of the city about the objection campaign and ask them to submit their signatures. Advertisements will also be placed in the local print media.
Mayor Klingebiel is also asking all the main administrative officials of the independent cities, districts and their municipalities, universities, churches and other socially relevant players in the former administrative district of Braunschweig to support the campaign.
IGM, AG Schacht Konrad and the Landvolk are also using their communication structures to achieve the highest possible level of participation. Klingebiel also points out that the city is already seeking external legal and scientific expertise to advise and represent its position against Schacht Konrad.
As is well known, the Federal Ministry for the Environment is currently drawing up a national disposal program for radioactive waste. It is planning to double the storage volume and expand the radiological inventory in the Konrad mine.
In doing so, it is relying on the legal force of the planning approval decision for the Konrad mine and completely ignoring the fact that fundamental cornerstones of the Konrad project no longer correspond to the current state of science and technology and that measures are planned that cannot be remedied.
The public should also be involved in the preparation of the National Waste Management Program. For this reason, all citizens have the opportunity to comment on the draft program until 31 May 2015.
The alliance is certain that this is probably the last opportunity to raise objections to the storage of nuclear waste in Schacht Konrad.