Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Germany

Radioactive waste arises when nuclear energy is used to generate electricity, when radionuclides are used in industry, medicine and research, and when nuclear facilities are decommissioned and dismantled.

Our generation as beneficiary of nuclear energy as well as producer of radioactive waste has to ensure the safe disposal of the radioactive waste produced by the energy suppliers and other institutions by storing it in deep geological formations in order to protect man and environment against the detrimental effects of radiation. For this purpose, commonly recognised basic safety standards were laid down in the "Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste" dated September 29, 1998, in accordance with international law. As one of the signatory states and in accordance with article 4 (VII), the Federal Republic of Germany assumed the obligation to undertake appropriate measures to prevent that an unreasonable burden is imposed on future generations.

In the early nineteen-sixties, the Federal Government decided that radioactive waste is to be disposed of exclusively in deep geological formations of the Earth's continental crust. This guarantees that radioactive materials never reach the Earth's biosphere, or only do so after a very long time when their radioactivity has mostly faded.

Whilst the nuclear industry is responsible for the processing, interim storage and conditioning of the waste, the German Government, represented by BfS, is solely responsible for its final disposal. The Federal Government has commissioned DBE, a company specifically founded for this purpose in 1979, to design and construct the federal repositories. This comprises the management of the projects Gorleben and Konrad as well as the operation of the former repository for radioactive waste in Morsleben (ERAM).

The former iron ore mine Konrad was comprehensively investigated with respect to its suitability to host a final repository for waste with negligible heat generation.

Site plan approval and licensing was initiated in 1982, and the plan to build and operate a final repository for waste with negligible heat generation at the site of the Konrad mine was approved in May 2002.

When in 2007 after the final confirmation by the Federal Institutional Court the plan approval is legally binding and executable, the government decided to prepare the Konrad mine as a repository. The construction work for mine modification has now started. At the end of 2013, the repository will be commissioned.

With respect to heat generating waste, the German concept for the disposal of spent fuel assemblies initially only planned for their reprocessing and the final disposal of the resulting waste. As a result of a long-term R&D programme with significant participation of DBE, the direct disposal, i.e. the disposal of unprocessed spent fuel assemblies, was included as an acceptable alternative into the German Atomic Energy Act in 1994, and has been the only permitted disposal method ever since.

Since 1979, DBE has carried out an extensive geoscientific programme on behalf of the Federal Government to explore the Gorleben salt dome with regard to its suitability to host a final repository for all types of radioactive waste. A suitability statement cannot be issued until the underground exploration and evaluation have been completed. In June 2000, the Federal Government and the power supply industry agreed upon a moratorium in Gorleben. The exploration has been suspended for 3 to 10 years. The suitability of this site can only be established in a site plan approval procedure.

After the German reunification, DBE was commissioned to operate the Morsleben repository for low- and intermediate-level waste. Radioactive waste disposal at Morsleben continued until September 1998. In 2001, the German Government made a final decision to terminate disposal operations at this site. At present, the closure of the final repository is being prepared.