"This is a clear signal from Salzgitter to those responsible in the state and federal governments," emphasized Mayor Frank Klingebiel.

"According to the current state of science and technology, Schacht Konrad would be ruled out as a storage site for nuclear waste," the appeal states. In May 2021, the environmental associations BUND and NABU, together with the alliance "Salzgitter gegen Schacht Konrad", submitted an application to withdraw or revoke the planning approval decision. Nevertheless, the state and federal governments want the old iron ore mine to be further expanded into a nuclear waste storage facility to the detriment of the region and billions of euros to be spent on it by 2027.

One of the demands made in the appeal to the state government is to finally support the region in its rejection of a nuclear waste repository in the Konrad mine in Salzgitter. Furthermore, to express displeasure to the federal government that the responsible environment minister Steffi Lemke is not prepared to talk to the alliance in Salzgitter and the people in the region.

Among other things, the federal government is expected to stop the work at Schacht Konrad and to use the funds earmarked for further expansion for a transparent and participatory search for a site for all low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. In addition, the option of retrieving all nuclear waste to be stored should be taken into account.

The appeal goes on to say "For fear of having to abandon Schacht Konrad as a final repository in the event of a reassessment and being left empty-handed due to decades of failures in nuclear waste disposal policy, the nuclear waste project is being held on to. We cannot accept this. As a region, we see it as our responsibility to future generations to find the best possible solution for the storage of radioactive waste over a million years based on current knowledge, instead of holding on to a completely outdated project just because it was approved 20 years ago."

In the further course of the council meeting, the city parliament was also informed about the supply of GPs. As in the rest of Germany, this is critical. Even though ensuring adequate care for the population is a task of the care providers and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians of Lower Saxony, the Council already adopted a directive in July 2022 to promote the establishment of such facilities.

Further items on the agenda: Regional development concept for the northern Harz foreland, feasibility study on the Salzgitter-Salder bypass, deposit collection rings at public waste garbage cans.

At the end of the meeting, there were motions and questions from the parliamentary groups. The detailed agenda can be viewed in the citizen information system at salzgitter.de.