Site projects
At the sites Asse, Morsleben und Konrad, BGR works on geoscientific and geotechnical investigations by order of the BGE and evaluates the results.
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Current projects
The legal basis for nuclear waste disposal in Germany is provided by the Basic Law, the German Nuclear and Radiation Protection Law, and the Site Selection Act. The objectives of the Atomic Energy Act (AtG) are:
- to protect life, health, and property from the dangers of nuclear energy and the harmful effects of ionizing radiation,
- to phase out the use of nuclear energy for commercial electricity generation, and
- to ensure well-regulated operation until the phase-out is complete.
Based on this, the Atomic Energy Act (AtG) obliges to set up facilities for the safe storage and final disposal of radioactive waste. A distinction is made between waste types with different levels of heat generation.
On the basis of an agreement with BGR the BGE is working on different geoscientific tasks at the sites in Germany, Asse, Morsleben and Konrad.
From 1967 to 1978, the former potash and rock salt mine Asse II was used for the disposal of waste with negligible heat generation (including low- and medium-level radioactive waste), with around 47,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste being stored there. Since 2009, the facility has been subject to nuclear law. This means that it must be shut down immediately in accordance with Section 57b of the Atomic Energy Act. However, this shutdown will only take place after the radioactive waste has been retrieved from the mine. The legal requirements for retrieval were created by an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act in 2013 (Lex Asse).
In the Morsleben Radioactive Waste Repository (ERAM), 37,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste with negligible heat generation were stored until 1998. The operation of this repository has been discontinued; it is to be decommissioned and securely sealed in the long term.
The former iron ore mine Konrad in Salzgitter is currently being converted into a final repository for 303,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste with negligible heat generation.
The search for a final repository for high-level heat-generating radioactive waste poses a particular challenge. Due to the radiation and heat release increased requirements are made on the host rock intended for final storage and on the isolation period. A site for the highly radioactive waste produced in Germany is to be determined through a legally regulated selection process, known as site selection or final repository search. On the basis of the cooperation agreement, BGR advises and supports the BGE in implementing the geoscientific part of the site selection process.
The Gorleben salt dome was explored in Germany from 1979 to 2012 as a site for the final disposal of radioactive waste, with exploration work interrupted during the Gorleben moratorium from 2000 to 2010. The primary aim of the exploration was to identify large homogeneous areas of rock salt in the salt dome in which the waste could be stored, and to prove the effectiveness of the barriers for the long-term safe containment of the waste. BGR carried out the geoscientific investigations at the exploration site and evaluated them. With the entry into force of the Site Selection Act in 2013, the exploration work in Gorleben was terminated. In the course of Step 1 of Phase I, following application of the geoscientific assessment criteria, the Gorleben salt dome was eliminated from the site selection process and will not be considered in the further process. Measures to backfill the mine are therefore in progress.