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My name is Andreas Graf von Bernstorff. My name is Anna Gräfin von Bernstorff.
We are very happy we've received this award from the "Schwelle",
and it will be an incentive for us to keep fighting against the atomic plants.
What happened was that only one site was going to be reviewed, and we were decidedly against that
because it's not possible to find the safest solution if you're only looking at one site
and immediately commit to that one.
During the proceedings, all findings regarding the salt stock and the permanent disposal
were talked up and we certainly wouldn't have found the best location this way,
just the first available.
The dispute then took a lot of different forms, including a legal battle.
We filed lawsuits against the plan, but we also took to the street and interfered with
the CASTOR dry cask transports because we think every CASTOR transport predetermines
the site and cements the plans -- and we oppose this
as we are for fair, open and scientific proceedings in this matter.
We feel responsible for our estate and our land and our opinion is that we shouldn't
treat the land as a commodity, but should rather exhaust the options we have,
be it legal steps or simply refusing to give up our rights.
Although I have to say that a solution for this situation needs to be found - this nuclear waste exists now,
and I don't want to be misinterpreted as saying we shouldn't look for a solution.
But this is a huge problem. Nuclear energy hasn't been properly thought through,
there is no nuclear waste store in the world that does not pose a threat to the next generations.
This situation will change a lot now, at least there won't be any more transports with highly active nuclear waste,
the CASTOR transports won't be the same anymore -
although we can't be sure just yet,
supposedly there will be a couple more transports coming from the United Kingdom.
Now we need to be watchful and see whether the Bundestag's search for a new law
will be handled in an actually transparent manner and involve the citizens
and will not be used to legalize the waste site in Gorleben, which is unfortunately still a topic to be discussed.
For the future, I hope that we can be more honest with each other,
that we won't have to witness any more trickery such as critical scientists being removed from proceedings
or pressure being applied or people being corrupted in this context.
We would like to see that an increase in civic involvement will lead to an increase in political culture in this matter.
I would like to see the energy turnaround work out
this takes a lot of effort -- that will determine the future -- but we in Germany can prove that renewable energy is a solution
and we don't need nuclear energy or coal power stations. I hope we will prove it.