Nuclear waste transport: Possible Castor route revealed by drone ban
Due to an error at the Federal Ministry of Transport, a possible route of a Castor transport could be viewed for hours.
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The routes of nuclear waste transports in Castor containers are actually classified as "confidential" by authorities, meaning secret. The highly controversial transports by truck or train are considered targets for attacks or occasions for demonstrations, which have delayed and thus increased the cost of operations in the past.
However, as WDR first reported, a blunder apparently occurred. On the Federal Ministry of Transport's "Digital Platform Unmanned Aviation" (dipul.de), a no-fly zone for drones was visible, precisely marked along motorways in North Rhine-Westphalia. This extended from JĂĽlich to Ahaus, where the next Castor transport is to take place after years of legal disputes. This is intended to transport spent fuel elements from a research reactor decommissioned in 1988 to the interim storage facility in Ahaus.
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An updated publication is still visible on Dipul.de, it is valid from March 20 to 27, 2026, due to a "police operation near Ahaus". However, at the time of this report, the graphics and a PDF for download only show a circle, no longer the possibly intended motorways as seen at WDR. The approximately 170-kilometer-long route is not surprising, however, as the broadcaster also writes: it is the shortest connection via motorways from south to north through NRW.
According to WDR, the exact routes were public from Wednesday evening to Thursday. The broadcaster also reports that an inquiry to the Ministry of Transport was not answered, but the first publication was deleted. It therefore remains unclear how the error occurred.
(nie)
