A plan for ending the use of atomic energy -- completely and irrevocably - will be established by law during this legislature period. To accomplish this, the coalition parties agree on the following step-by-step procedures:

A first step, within the next 100 days, will be to change the basic atomic law as follows:

- Cancellation of the promotion of atomic energy.

- Establishment of a requirement for safety checks within one year

- Where there is a reasonable suspicion of danger, the requirement of proof (by the operators).

- Limitation of waste disposal to direct storage (i.e., no further refining or reworking)

- Cancellation of the atomic law changes of 1998, with the exception of parts relating to compliance with European-Union law.

- Raising the amount of insurance coverage.

A second step, to be accomplished within one year: the government will enter talks with the energy producers in an attempt to establish a consensus on a new energy policy covering the ending of atomic plants and the waste question.

After these talks are concluded, the government will bring in a new law establishing time limits for ending the use of atomic energy and regulation of waste disposal (without paying compensation to the operators).

On the subject of radioactive waste disposal, the coalition parties agree as follows:

- The present waste disposal concept is defeated and no longer has any basis for continuance.
A (new) national waste disposal plan will be produced.

- A single storage site deep underground in a geologic formation will be sufficient for all kinds of waste.

- The year 2030 is set as the goal for accomplishing the storage of highly radioactive waste.

- There are doubts as to the use of salt-layer storage at Gorleben. Therefore the experiments there will be interrupted, and further sites in various geological formations will be examined. After comparing all possibilities, a final decision will be made.

- Further storage at Morsleben will be ended. Further work there will be confined to closing the site.

- Basically, operators of atomic plants must provide temporary storage for their own waste, in or near their own facility. Radioactive fuel rods may only be transported (elsewhere) when no approved temporary storage place exists (and cannot be made available). Such temporary storage is not to be considered permanent.

If you click here, you can see the complete Coalition agreement between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the "Alliance 90-The Greens" !

Den ganzen Koalitonsvertrag können Sie hier sehen!