Who is responsible for the operation of federal radioactive waste repositories?
The responsibilities for the disposal of radioactive waste are regulated in the Atomic Energy Act (AtG). Pursuant to § 9a paragraph 3 AtG the Federation has the task to establish facilities for the safekeeping and disposal of radioactive waste. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection is the competent authority and is thus responsible “for establishing and operating federal facilities for the safekeeping and disposal of radioactive waste.”
In Germany there are four repository projects the Federal Office for Radiation Protection is competent for: Konrad, Morsleben, Asse and Gorleben. Whereas Gorleben is still an exploratory mine and it has not been decided so far whether radioactive waste will ever be disposed of there, radioactive waste has already been stored in Morsleben and in Asse. Both repositories need to be decommissioned pursuant to Atomic Energy Act. Konrad is currently being converted into a repository for low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste.
The overall responsibility for the construction and operation of federal repositories is with the Federal Office for Radiation Protection. In 1984 the Federal Republic of Germany concluded a co-operation agreement with Deutsche Gesellschaft zum Bau und Betrieb von Endlagern für Abfallstoffe mbH (DBE) and commissioned the DBE with the "planning and erection of federal facilities for the safekeeping and disposal of radioactive waste".
In terms of the construction of the Konrad repository, the operation of the Morsleben repository and the operation of the Gorleben exploratory mine the Federal Office for Radiation Protection is supported by the DBE. BfS tasked Asse GmbH with the operational management and the decommissioning of the Asse II mine.
