Facts
The complainants, Claudia Leisinger-Bolleter, Hanspeter Meier, Theo Meyer and Helene Roth-Hürzeler, live near the Muttenz railway station. They applied to the Federal Office of Energy to determine that they have party status in the licensing procedure for the transport of burnt-out fuel elements from nuclear power plants. The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications confirmed the decision of the Federal Office that the residents of the transport routes are not exposed to any particular danger and do not have a sufficient legitimate interest in the licensing procedure.
The complainants have filed an appeal against this decision with the Federal Administrative Court, which the Federal Court has dismissed. The Main Division for the Safety of Nuclear Facilities describes the risk associated with fuel element transports as negligible.
Considerations
The Federal Court has established in its decision that the relationship required for legitimation of third parties to the dispute exists if the construction or operation of the projected facility will with certainty or high probability result in immissions and the parties concerned are affected by these. However, the affectedness of third parties cannot be ruled out from the outset even if no emissions are emitted by a facility during normal operation, but a particular source of danger is created and the residents are exposed to an increased risk as a result.
The Federal Court has also established that the potential danger associated with transport cannot be compared in either qualitative or quantitative terms to that of nuclear power plants. The residents of the transport route are not exposed to a particularly high potential danger, and their probability of radioactive radiation is not significantly higher…