The Christian Democrats (CDU) have told the federal minister for the environment, nature protection and reactor safety, Jürgen Trittin, that they are not willing to participate in a new working group on a nuclear repository.

The group, comprising representatives of political parties, federal states, environmental groups and churches, is to establish criteria for a further search for sites for radwaste repositories. The CDU said that it is in favour of the Gorleben salt mine as a repository and that it would only be prepared to participate in the discussions if the exploration work at Gorleben were to recommence.