German Government to Restart Search for Nuclear Waste Site

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Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Germany will restart the search for a site to store its most dangerous nuclear waste, working to achieve a “national consensus” on the issue first, the environment minister said.

Norbert Roettgen said he’d work with 16 state governors to make legislation enabling the search by next summer. Speaking at a briefing after meeting the governors today in Berlin, Roettgen wouldn’t say how long it would take to decide on a site, only that there would be “no taboos” on the location.

The decision signals Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition is backing away from a plan to put the waste in Gorleben, a town in the nation’s north along the Elbe River that’s been the focus for efforts to situate a facility for decades.

The government has spent more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of taxpayers’ money since the 1980s to determine whether the Gorleben site is appropriate.

A previous government of Social Democrats and Greens blocked research at that site for 10 years through 2010.

--Editor: Reed Landberg

To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net