Castor transport rolls towards Biblis despite lockdown

that route

Official information there is no schedule or route for Castor transports for safety reasons. Around November 1st around the ship with six castors coming from England is expected to dock in Nordenham in Lower Saxony. By train the nuclear waste containers are probably brought to Biblis in southern Hesse via Hanover, Göttingen, Fulda, Frankfurt and Darmstadt. They should arrive there around November 4th. pgh

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“Given the current pandemic, it is irresponsible to carry out protection-intensive Castor transports,” said Torsten Felstehausen, environmental policy spokesman for the left parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament. An action alliance made up of anti-nuclear power groups calls for vigils across the country.

Virginie Wegner, press spokeswoman for the Hessian State Criminal Police Office, admitted that securing the transport was a “challenging situation” and that the situation was “dynamic”. The state police and the federal police are well prepared, however, and there is an extensive hygiene concept. Mouth and nose coverings must always be worn, there are “hygiene scouts” on the go to ensure compliance with the rules, and a mix of emergency services from different groups should be avoided. When staying overnight, the police officers would have single and double rooms instead of the usual collective accommodation, for example in gyms, said Wegner.

Michael Köbl, head of the communications department at GNS, also reported on extensive hygiene precautions to prevent the accompanying staff from being infected with the corona virus. The employees were in the home office before the assignment, the groups would be deployed separately from each other, protective equipment had to be worn. In addition, the body temperature is measured regularly during the mission.

Usually several thousand emergency services accompany the nuclear waste transports nationwide. The number of protesters is usually just as large. This time it could look a little different.

Herbert Würth, one of the spokespersons for the “Stop Castor” alliance, assumes that fewer people than usual will come to the track to announce their protest. The elderly in particular may be concerned about their health and avoid crowds.

A spokesman for the federal police said on Thursday that they are betting that “the protest potential will be lower due to the corona”. You would expect demonstrations a little off the track. In general, due to the resolutions of the federal government and the states to contain the corona infections, “significantly less population on the street” can be expected.

This also means a lower risk of infection for the officers deployed. So it is intended that the respective task forces should remain in their region. “The use then largely corresponds to the regular service,” said the spokesman. “However, the risk would increase if there were disruptions.” Up to now, this was also common for Castor transports.

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