Legal end for another nuclear waste interim storage facility in Hanau: The city has prevailed in a long-standing legal dispute over the plans in the Wolfgang district.
It does not have to grant the disposal company Orano NCS a building permit for the interim storage facility.
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig classified the project on Tuesday as inadmissible under building planning law.
The hazard potential of radioactive waste is too high (BVerwG 4 C 2.20).
"This is a great day for the future development of our city," said Hanau's Lord Mayor Claus Kaminsky (SPD) after the decision.
The legal opinion of the city of Hanau was thus "fully confirmed".
"Our goal was and is to expand our importance as a high-tech location in the Rhine-Main area."
Orano NCS was initially unable to comment on Tuesday evening.
The company wanted to set up the interim storage facility in a hall in the Wolfgang Technology Park.
After the city had refused the permit, the disposal company sued - at that time still under a different name.
She was successful in the first instance at the Frankfurt Administrative Court, but then failed before the Hessian Administrative Court (VGH).
The Leipzig judges have now confirmed this verdict.
Danger potential of radiant waste
According to the Federal Administrative Court, an interim storage facility for radioactive waste exceeds the "degree of interference" that is permissible in an industrial area.
The hazard potential of the radioactive waste is important for the location decision.
The city had resisted the permit because they feared that Hanau could become the focal point for nuclear waste from all over Germany.
From their point of view, the Wolfgang Technology Park has developed well in the meantime.
Among other things, the Internet giant Google is currently building a data center there.
Administration, technology and logistics would not get along with another nuclear waste interim storage facility.
Two interim storage facilities in Wolfgang
Two interim storage facilities for low-level radioactive waste already exist in Hanau; the relevant permits were issued in 1982 and 2001.
Hanau-Wolfgang was once considered the center of the German nuclear industry.
At the time of the relevant approvals, the legal situation was fundamentally different than today, the city said on Tuesday.
“At that time, the area had not yet been designated as an industrial area.
It was an industrial area.”
After the nuclear plants were shut down, the entire area was developed into a commercial area with "non-disruptive uses" - such as office and administration buildings, a computer center and service providers.
Against this background, the building permit for another interim storage facility was refused - because it was incompatible with the urban planning order and development perspective.
"For us, it's not about simple Sankt-Florian thinking, but about the fact that we can't take on the solution to a nationwide problem on our own," explained Kaminsky. After all, there is already an interim storage facility in Wolfgang with the low-level radioactive waste from the demolition of the old nuclear facilities on the site. "So we bear our share of the responsibility for the nuclear waste that has accumulated," said the mayor. "But we are not willing to sacrifice more valuable commercial space to house the nuclear waste from all of Germany or maybe even beyond."
The Hessian Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND Hessen) welcomes the decision.
"It is good that the court has confirmed the right of the city of Hanau to be able to exclude the storage of radioactive substances by means of land use planning.
We hope that no more nuclear waste will generally be stored in Hanau,” explained Werner Neumann, board member of BUND Hessen.
The judgment also shows that it is of great importance beyond Hanau, so that interim storage facilities of this type have to be concentrated on locations of the nuclear industry.