Germany’s Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE – Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung) and the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE – Bundesamt für die Sicherheit der nuklearen Entsorgung) are proposing to the government that the process of selecting a site to host Germany’s planned high-level radioactive waste repository should be accelerated.
The site selection procedure involves all German federal states and regions. The areas are examined for their suitability through different phases of the search procedure. Areas are excluded, evaluated and compared, until only the best possible site will remain at the end.
The site selection procedure is currently in the first of three phases which seeks to identify sub-areas and siting regions. The first step of Phase I has already been completed. BGE has collected and evaluated geological data from the Länder (federal states) and published an initial state of work in the form of the interim report on sub-areas.
BGE has proposed merging Phases II and III of the site selection process in which phased exploration will gradually identify a maximum of three optimal sites, which will then be compared with each other. BGE intends to propose 5-10 sites for surface exploration to BASE by the end of 2027. BASE is responsible for ensuring people and the environment are protected from ionising radiation from radioactive waste.
Following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the German Parliament decided in 2011 to phase out the use of nuclear power for commercially generating electricity by 2022. Some 1,900 containers with 27,000 cubic metres of high-level radioactive waste will remain and it will be necessary to safely dispose of them in the long term. The containers account for 5% of Germany’s total nuclear waste but 99% of its radioactivity. The 2013 Law on the Search and Selection of a Site for a Repository for High-Level Waste (the Site Selection Act – StandAG), which became effective in 2017, provided the framework for the individual phases in the procedure.
It was initially stipulated that a siting decision should be made in 2031. However, according to BGE, the work will take significantly longer than expected. In 2024, BASE published a study which determined timescales up to 2074 to find the site with the best possible safety for a million years. BGE notes that, in addition to permits, the exploration work requires a variety of rights of use and access to the land to be investigated. This represents a bottleneck and entails considerable time-related risks.
In order to be able to undertake investigations in the designated siting regions promptly, specific legal adjustments are needed to accelerate the process. BGE proposes applying regulations to the search for a repository that have already proved successful for the expansion of renewable energies. It also proposes structuring the exploration phase in line with that used in the search for raw materials.
StandAG stipulates a multi-phase search for a site with the best possible safety precautions and the full participation of the public, especially in the regions where the sites will be located. BGE says, if the potential for combining Phases II and III is to be realised, the groundwork for amending the StandAG must be laid within the next two years to ensure that the exploration programmes are adapted to the new strategy in a timely manner.
In September 2020, BGE published a list of potential sites identifying 90 areas covering 54% of Germany’s surface area as potentially geologically suitable. The report excluded a site at a former salt mine in Gorleben that was previously thought suitable.
“From a project perspective, BGE’s proposals are essential for ultimately successfully and timely proposing the site with the best possible safety for the final repository for high-level radioactive waste,” said BGE CEO Iris Graffunder. “If the current rules regarding rights of use and access remain in place, even the denial of access rights for a single piece of land where exploration measures are required could delay the site selection process by years.”
She added: “If the current regulations remain in place, BGE would have to submit identical applications in several federal states without knowing when the respective responsible states would grant their permits, or not. This also has a high potential for delays. Site selection for the repository for high-level radioactive waste is a highly complex process. But it is still possible to have a site determined by the middle of this century.”
BASE said accelerating the search for a repository is necessary “in view of the aspects of intergenerational justice, the ultimate safety of people from high-level radioactive waste, and the trust of citizens in the process and the state institutions involved in the process”. Its proposals also include changes in the implementation of the site selection procedure as well as to StandAG, “but are compatible with its principles”.
BASE’s recommendations include limiting the number of location regions at the end of Phase I to a maximum of six; linking preparatory work for mining approval procedures more closely to the submission of the site region proposal; enabling exploration work to continue all year through legal adjustments; and using modern exploration methods and drilling techniques for underground exploration instead of digging entire exploratory mines as required by law.
According to BASE, the aim should be to develop a binding timetable, including milestones, for all parties involved in the search process, whereby a safe site can be identified by around 2050. “From BASE’s perspective, these measures promise the greatest acceleration potential, ranging from several years to decades. At the same time, they are generally the most complex and, due to their long-term impact, should be implemented early in the process to ensure their full impact.”
The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety & Consumer Protection (BMUV – Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz) said that, after examining the submitted proposals, it will hold discussions with BASE and BGE to identify and implement ways to accelerate the process.
