WISE - NIRS Nuclear Monitor 627

What happened 25 years ago? We go back to news from our 1980 WISE Bulletin, comparing anti-nuclear news then and now.

Then
In WISE Bulletin vol. 2 nr. 5 we wrote about the occupation of the German test drilling site in Gorleben: "activists built and lived in an alternative village built on a test drilling site in Gorleben. They stayed throughout May, until heavy police and army forces cleared away the village and protestors. […] An estimated 10.000 police and army forces obliterated the 'Republic of Free Wendland'." (WISE Bulletin, July/September 1980)

The site was occupied on 3 May by thousands of demonstrators and named "hut village 1004" (the site was officially named deep drilling site "1004"). The village was built of wooden huts and grew to a remarkable small village, including a sauna, piggery, windmills, solar energy heating system and even small tourist attractions. For many people, the Republic was not only symbol of the struggle against nuclear energy but also an alternative way of living. On 4 June the village was cleared by using severe police force, for instance by flying helicopters very low above the people.

Now
The exclamation of the Republic of Free Wendland is a famous moment in the German anti-nuclear movement and an important moment in the resistance against the Gorleben waste repository site. German media and anti-nuclear groups looked back to the events 25 years ago.

The events were remembered at a meeting on 8 May near the site. The request to organize a lecture at the site itself was denied by the owner, the German Association for Reprocessing (DWK), although the site is not in an enclosed area. A walk to the place in the woods however was allowed. (Elbe Jeetzel Zeitung, 7 and 9 May 2005)

The plan for an underground waste repository by 2000 was not realized and as of today a moratorium on research in the salt dome is still in place. High level waste from reprocessing and spent fuel from German reactors has nevertheless been stored at the Gorleben intermediate storage site since April 1995. (WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor 617, 25 years ago, 22 October 2004)

WISE-Amsterdam/NIRS

ISSN: 1570-4629

Reproduction of this material is encouraged. Please give credit when reprinting.

Editorial team: Dirk Bannink and Tinu Otoki (WISE Amsterdam), Michael Mariotte (NIRS). With contributions from CRRIIRAD, ECNT, Public Citizen, NSHR, NIRS, WISE Amsterdam and Laka Foundation.

The next issue (628) will be mailed out May 27, 2005.

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