Repository research
BGR has research projects into future-oriented topics relating to final disposal (preliminary research). Our scientists, engineers, and technicians form a strong pool of experts who are available at short notice to advise the Federal Government on current issues.
additional content
Geoscientific expertise must constantly prove itself, renew itself, and expand. BGR regularly processes and publishes information on identified, relevant, and applied research topics, thereby ensuring the Federal Government's advisory expertise on the subject of radioactive waste disposal.
BGR characterizes the three host rocks (clay, salt, and crystalline) and geotechnical barriers made of different materials. In doing so, it takes a wide range of perspectives into account, including their spatial occurrence and natural geoscientific developments (genesis), their (geo)physical properties (thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, chemical, THMC), and their (potential) changes under the influence of mining, thermal, or hydraulic-chemical factors.
BGR offers an impressive range of methodological approaches, from experimental field, in situ, and laboratory work, conceptual or numerical work, to verbal-argumentative assessments and classifications (some of which are AI-based). This methodological breadth is a natural consequence of the approach: BGR develops meaningful process flows, from initial fundamental technical questions to usable solutions.
Current projects
Intensive scientific exchange at national and international level is maintained through joint projects (DECOVALEX, EURAD, etc.) and committee activities (e.g. Salt Club, Crystalline Club and Clay Club of the OECD, NEA).
In November 2024, the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE) in cooperation with the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) hosted the “9th International Conference on Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement” (Clay Conference for short) in Hanover.
First organized in 2002 by the French project management agency "Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs" (ANDRA), this international conference, held every two and a half years, offers experts from around the world and from various disciplines and organizations a scientific platform to address various aspects of clayey host rocks and barriers in the disposal of radioactive waste in clay and clay rocks and to exchange information on the progress of research in this field. In 2027, ClayRad will take place in Belgium in cooperation with ONDRAF/NIRAS and COVRA.
