Current trends in court rulings on matters of the Atomic Energy Law

Today's Atomic energy law is at a high development level and offers increased legal safety at a point of time when the extension of nuclear energy has been largely concluded in the FRG. The procedural constellation of third-party objections in characteristic of the development of the atomic energy law. Principal objections to the peaceful use of nuclear energy have been largely disproved by court rulings. Residual risks of this technology are to be accepted as 'socially adequate basic burdens'. 'Abandonment' of nuclear energy is not precluded by the structure of Atomic Energy Law Standards but is mainly a political question to be answered by the executive. In future, legal issues of nuclear waste disposal, fuel cycle and assessment of new plant types will dominate the discussion. Verification and certification of waste disposal should not be demanded in the stage of plant approval, however, should safe disposal prove to be infeasible, nuclear energy use may well have to be re-assessed legally. (orig.)