Does the Wuergassen reactor contribute to forest disease in the Solling?

On the basis of a survey of forest diseases conducted in 1983 around the Wuergassen reactor, Reichelt in 1985 arrived at the conclusion that his hypothesis of 'the high level of forest disease observed in the area of the bend of the river Weser being mainly caused by the reactor' must in all probability be accurate. Thanks to the vast amount of data provided by the aerial photography evaluation, that hypothesis could be verified in 164 sampling points. The results did not confirm any significant influence of the Wuergassen reactor on the indices of harm in the area of the main wind direction. Instead it was found in the area of investigation II, projecting some 18 kilometres into the Solling mountain, that damage decreases from the marginal part to the areas further away to the east. Within that range of distance, the age of stands and their altitude could be clearly identified as factors having a significant influence on the index of harm. Consequently, although the study confirmed the decrease of harm from west to east observed by Reichelt, the highest incidence of damage was found on the eastern fringe and not only in the main wind direction of the reactor. This result led to the hypothesis that large-scale factors of harm act on the western fringe of the Solling, not the reactor. To verify that hypothesis, the north-western part of the Solling (area of investigation III) was included in the evaluation to the depth of, equally, 18 kilometres. The evaluation confirmed the assumptions formulated in the hypothesis. An influence of the reactor on forest disease in the south-western part of the Solling is to be excluded on the basis of these investigation results. Instead, factors of harm acting on a large scale, for instance pollutant burdens carried into the region from remote sources, must be considered as an essential cause of the increased incidence of harm in the entire western fringe of the Solling forest. (orig.)