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Map showing the repositories Asse, Morsleben, and Konrad, as well as the Gorleben exploratory mine
(click on map to enlarge)
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A use for radioactive materials is found in many different fields - electricity generation, medicine, industry, to name but a few. Owing to the risks involved, safe terminal storage is required for the radioactive waste that is produced in the process.
Radioactive waste
In Germany, radioactive waste intended for disposal is divided into heat-generating radioactive waste and waste with negligible heat generation.
- Heat-generating waste is generally comprised of spent fuel elements and liquid high-level radioactive waste (fission product solutions) from the reprocessing of spent fuel elements. This liquid waste is concentrated and melted into glass blocks (vitrified waste canisters).
- Waste generating negligible heat is made up of other primary waste such as cleaning cloths, disused tools and plant, used filters or residues from waste water treatment.
The origins of Germany’s radioactive waste
The majority of radioactive residues and radioactive waste produced in Germany arises
- in connection with energy generation in nuclear power plants,
- through the decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities,
- in medicine and industry and
- in research and development.
By volume, however, the amount of waste arising in the medical field is negligible and makes up less than 0.5 per cent.
Furthermore, radioactive waste resulting from the treatment of spent fuel elements from German nuclear installations in French and British reprocessing plants is also returned to Germany for terminal storage as agreed in the relevant contracts. In addition, there are spent fuel elements that are disposed of directly (that is, without reprocessing) as heat-generating waste, and are therefore categorised as high-level radioactive waste.
Repositories and repository projects
In Germany there are four repositories and/or repository projects for which the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) is responsible:
- Asse repository,
- Morsleben repository,
- Konrad repository and
- the Gorleben exploratory mine.
While Gorleben is an exploratory mine and it remains unclear whether radioactive waste will ever be terminally stored there, Morsleben and Asse already have stores of radioactive waste. The Konrad mine is currently being converted into a repository. In compliance with the Atomic Energy Act and current mining legislation, the BfS assumes sole responsibility for operations at the Gorleben and Konrad mines and for the decommissioning of the Morsleben and Asse repositories.
Asse repository
 In 1965, the Federal Ministry for Scientific Research and Technology (Federal Ministry for Education and Research – BMFT) charged the Gesellschaft für Strahlen- und Umweltforschung (today: Helmholtz Zentrum München – HMGU) with exploring the technical details of handling radioactive waste in a repository and carrying out fundamental research on terminal disposal in salt rock in the Asse mine.
Following reconstruction works in the former production mine, emplacement operation of radioactive waste began in 1967. Between 1967 and 1978 nearly all produced waste with negligible heat generation - then still referred to as low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste - were disposed of in the Asse II salt mine. In September 2008, the competent ministries agreed to formally accord the Asse mine, which is subject to mining law supervision, repository status and to transfer the Asse operating rights to the BfS. The transfer took place on 1 January 2009.
Following the transfer of Asse to the BfS, one of the main tasks, in addition to introducing nuclear standards and urgently needed emergency precautions, was to find an appropriate means of shutting down the Asse repository. A formal comparison of the various shutdown options - “waste retrieval”, “internal rearrangement”, and “complete backfilling” - was conducted and the results made public in January 2010. These days it is generally accepted that the best option would be to retrieve the waste from Asse II – there are plans to conduct an initial feasibility survey (test phase).
Morsleben repository
 The Morsleben repository for radioactive waste (ERAM) that had been erected by the former GDR was used for the disposal of low-level and medium-level radioactive waste from 1971 to 1991 and later on from 1994 to 1998. Upon reunification in 1990, the Federal Republic assumed responsibility for the GDR repository for radioactive waste in Morsleben. Since then the facility has been operated by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection. The Federal Republic continued to use Morsleben as a repository until 1998. In 2001 the BfS irrevocably relinquished all rights to further terminal storage at the site, on grounds that such action was no longer tenable.
The facility is to be decommissioned. In the plan-approval procedure required the public participation procedure started in October 2009 with in the public disclosure of the plan documents. In October 2011 a public hearing took place headed by the licensing authority, the Saxony-Anhalt Environment Ministry (MLU). In the scope of this hearing the BfS as applicant and the objectors discussed the objections raised. The public hearing started on 13 October 2011 and concluded on 25 October 2011 after 9 days of discussion.
Konrad repository Since 1975 the former iron ore mine Konrad in Salzgitter has been thoroughly explored with respect to its general suitability as a repository for waste with negligible heat generation. In May 2007 a decision by the Federal Administrative Court officially recognised the Konrad mine as a repository.
The Konrad repository is the first in Germany to have been licensed in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act. It was subject to a plan-approval procedure, involving the general public, spanning 20 years. The Konrad repository thus differs considerably from all previous repository projects in Germany. The plan-approval decision in favour of Konrad foresees a maximum storage volume of 303,000 cubic metres of low and medium-level radioactive waste. Until the Konrad repository is commissioned, waste with negligible heat generation is either being stored at its place of origin or in a central repository.
Gorleben exploratory mine The deadline for exploring the Gorleben salt mine as a potential repository for heat-generating radioactive waste which ran out on 1st October 2010 has been extended by the federal government. With the resumption of exploration work (in German only) investigations are to be made into whether a repository in the Gorleben salt mine is feasible.
This time research is to focus on the occurrence and assess the safety of saline solutions (residues from the Zechstein Sea), hydrocarbons in the salt strata, as well as possible flow paths. The exact position of anhydrite rock also needs to be established, since it is likely to function as a flow path for solutions. Using existing investigative and research results, the current phase of the process aims to ascertain, on the basis of a preliminary safety analysis and subsequent international peer review (a procedure for monitoring and assessing of scientific work by independent experts), whether the Gorleben salt mine can be converted into a repository.
BfS’ technical duties
Among other things, the BfS is charged with elaborating safety proofs for repository operating and post-operating phases, and supporting the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) in its site selection procedure preparations. A repository for heat-generating waste is scheduled for commissioning by 2035.
Other major aspects of BfS work include providing the foundations for refining the repository concept and providing back-up during the site selection procedure.
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