How did that THTR business play itself out at the time…

deutsche Version

In the early eighties an acquaintance asked me to go with him to a protest meeting against the THTR. I did not really feel like it, nor did I have the time, but this guy just wouldn't take no for an answer. It must have been one of my weaker moments because I finally gave in, and off we trotted to the rally. It was a sunny Sunday in spring, so why not go for a walk and get a close-up view of a nuclear power station? After all, there must be worse ways to spend one's time. The march turned out to be quite pleasant.

GoogleMaps Kartenansicht  

True, some of the characters looked a bit weird and wonderful, but there were also plenty of "normal" citizens. Everybody sized up everybody else, and one thought must have crossed many minds: "What a bunch of weirdos - hope my colleagues don't see me mixing with this lot!"

Whatever my first impressions, this varied gathering of believers and atheists, politicos and the apolitical, proselytes and doubters turned out to be quite stimulating, and I had a lot of fun chatting to people. I had no objections to repeating the experience when the opportunity presented itself on one of the following Sundays…

But resistance can also be a lonely business - especially on rainy days. Enough to make you grateful for the unfailing police presence. Always reliable, always right on time.

Soon I became interested in the real purpose of these gatherings: I began to gather information on the technical details of this power plant, which was impressive enough because of its sheer bulk - not to mention the surrounding concrete wall of 3 m height, which gave it the aspect of a medieval castle. The material distributed by the operator, the HKG (Hochtemperatur Kernkraftwerk Gesellschaft) was not very informative, but virtually every sentence exuded the reassuring confidence: "Don't worry, we're in total control."

I found this tone rather disturbing, for I had come across such an attitude while training as a materials quality-controller. My experience was: the more arrogant the "experts", the less likely they are to be plagued by pangs of conscience. After all, delegating responsibility is the first thing they learn. This initial feeling of unease deepened after I spoke to some "people in charge", and I grew suspicious. One thing became clear to me: "I had to learn more", because I didn't want to be taken for a ride, or ridiculed for lack of expert knowledge. So I delved into this field of knowledge as far as it seemed necessary, and I soon discovered the weak points in the case for nuclear energy - a case which the pro-nuke faction continues to argue now as they did then.

1. The totally unresolved matter of waste disposal - after all, who can put his or her head on the block for what is going to happen over the next 50 000 years? 

2. Human beings - the unpredictable, but decisive "human factor" has not been accounted for in their calculations. These calculations may be totally convincing in theory, but in practice human beings have a finger in the pie, and as we all know… "Safety" exists on paper only - and what if a mistake happens, a mishap, an oversight? Then the human being involved shrugs and says: "Oh, I'm really sorry, I couldn't help it, I did my best and therefore I cannot be held responsible!"

3. Surprisingly, or perhaps not that surprisingly, not a single insurance company is prepared to insure the operation of a nuclear power plant.

4.) Each atomic power plant and each individual Castor transport must be constantly guarded and/or escorted, because of the high hazard potential, by safety forces. Each atomic plant is a step on the way to the police state. Even if to each atomic power plant an air defense cannon belongs, it will be necessary no longer to discuss whether the employment of the military in the own country is desirable or not.

5.) There is no peaceful use of the atomic energy - energy producing nuclear reactors supply the material for the building by atom bombs is used, each civilian research within the range of the atomic energy is just as usable for military (dual use).

facts, facts, facts

THTR Facts

Up to 1985, when a provisional operating licence was granted, the building costs for the THTR had by far exceeded the projected amount of 690 million Deutsche Mark and instead mounted to a whopping 4 billion DM. And still, an end to this waste of taxpayers' money is not in sight. (Total costs up to 1994: Over 6,7 billion DM)

Thorium appears to have been an unsuitable fuel, and so they began feeding the reactor with uranium - and extracted weapon-quality plutonium to boot. For cosmetic reasons the original name was left unchanged, or coolly shortened from THTR to HTR.

The breackdown

This billboard poster was created by the draughtsman Fritz Brümmer, a resident of Hamm

All this would have been bad enough, but the cherry on top was the HKG's attempt to dress up this incident, first as a "routine cleaning operation" and then as an "unforeseeable misfortune". Only several weeks later did the company admit that there had indeed been a breakdown, accompanied by the release of considerable quantities of radiation…

The End!?

The breakdown described above was, as I said before, the beginning of the end of the THTR in Hamm/Uentrop. The State government of North-Rhine Westphalia lost its nerve. After the Chernobyl disaster of 26. 04. 1986, even the most ardent proponents of the "peaceful use of nuclear power" were shaking in their boots…

The THTR had exceeded its budget nine times over, its construction had taken thrice as long as anticipated, the credibility of the operating company had been compromised, the public was rubbing their eyes and waking up to reality…

The VEW was beleaguered and worn down. Vereinigte Elektrizitätswerke ("United Electricity Works") (Translator's note)

For weeks the HKG denied and covered up the breakdown and the radiation leakage, and only the irrefutable evidence of meter readings and measurements and various other factors (a secret internal document was leaked to the public) forced the operating company to give up their initial strategy of "business-as-usual" and "breakdown? what breakdown?"…

It was probably the HKG board's approach of sacrificing truth to strategy, which prompted the politicians' turnaround - in the right direction: They decided not to throw additional billions of taxpayers' money after the four billion which had already gone down the drain.

So the "Social Democrats' reactor" had to go. The alleged "perpetuum mobile" of Kalkar, with its price tag of 7 billion DM the nation's most expensive technological monument, was giving the comrades in North-Rhine Westphalia more than enough trouble on its own. The last thing they needed was another unspeakable nuclear scandal…

Incidentally, the most modern cooling tower in Europe, right next to the A 2 Autobahn (highway) between Dortmund and Hanover, was blown up (intentionally) in 1991. Perhaps it had simply become redundant, but perhaps we may be allowed to indulge in a little conspiracy theory. I suspect the tower was simply an all too obvious reminder of the arrogance of those in power, of the disdain with which they waste taxpayers' money. It was also a highly conspicuous monument to a failed technology, and it could have inspired in the passing motorists all sorts of uncomfortable questions and unkind comments.