Gorleben
Gorleben is a small municipality (Gemeinde) in the Gartow region of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far north-east of Lower Saxony, Germany, a region also known as the Wendland.
Gorleben | |
|---|---|
Municipality | |
Location of Gorleben within Lüchow-Dannenberg district | |
Gorleben Gorleben | |
| Coordinates: 53°02′53″N 11°21′20″E | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Lower Saxony |
| District | Lüchow-Dannenberg |
| Municipal assoc. | Gartow |
| Subdivisions | 2 Ortsteile |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Herbert Krüger |
| Area | |
| • Total | 21.25 km2 (8.20 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 20 m (70 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31) | |
| • Total | 607 |
| • Density | 29/km2 (74/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 29475 |
| Dialling codes | 05882 |
| Vehicle registration | DAN |
| Website | www.gorleben.de |
Gorleben was first recorded as a town by the rulers of Dannenberg in 1360; there was a fort on the site. The name "Gorleben" probably comes from Goor ("silt"; in Slavic, however, Gor means "mountain") and leben ("heritage").
Gorleben is known as the site of a controversial radioactive waste disposal facility, currently used as an intermediate storage facility initially planned to serve with the salt dome Gorleben as a future deep final repository for waste from nuclear reactors. As of September 28, 2020 this is no longer the case as the entire area has been deemed unfit by 70 geologists in a national geographic survey for final repositories. It has attracted frequent protests from environmentalists since the 1970s.