After the introduction by Dr. Jörg Tietze, Head of the Nuclear Waste Management Safety Department, which ended with the question "Would you agree with the procedure presented for the workshops?", the responsible department head Wolfram Skorczyk, representing the city of Salzgitter and the Bündnis gegen Schacht Konrad, asked for a brief explanation.
Contrary to previous assurances that the workshop was intended to ensure transparency and openness, Tietze refused to read out the statement.
The four-member delegation from the city of Salzgitter and the numerous representatives of the alliance partners IG Metall Salzgitter-Peine, Landvolk Braunschweiger Land and Arbeitsgemeinschaft Schacht Konrad as well as BUND then saw no basis for further participation and left the room in protest.
"That was the opposite of openness and transparency. There was no point in our participation in such a closed event," said Skorczyk, explaining his decision. The representative of the city of Braunschweig also joined the walk-out in appreciation of the region's joint appeal on the planned final disposal of nuclear waste in Schacht Konrad.
The behavior of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection during the event was a disappointment, said Michael Tacke and Wolfram Skorczyk, head of the building department. Nevertheless, the city is still hoping for an open and constructive dialog with the BfS. "We are certainly prepared to do so," said Michael Tacke.
Info: In their statement, the representatives of the city of Salzgitter wanted to remind everyone that 27 municipalities in the region have now joined an appeal against a final repository in the Konrad mine. They are calling for an exclusion of an expansion of the Konrad mine, a reassessment of the suitability of the mine as a final repository according to the current state of science and technology, the possibility of retrieving the nuclear waste to be stored and a revision of the Konrad transport study.
However, according to the documents sent, none of this was apparently included in the working group, so that there could be no question of an open outcome. The city will therefore only participate as an active listener, but will not make any assessments or evaluations on site. At best, this would take place at a later date and with expert advice.