| Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
- Fact Sheet
Germany’s Radioactive Waste Management Program
Low-level radioactive waste
Low-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, research, medicine,
and industry was put into the Morselben Repository for Radioactive Waste,
an abandoned potash and salt rock mine located in the former German Democratic
Republic, from 1981-1998. In 1997, Germany’s Federal Office for Radiation
Protection (BfS) announced its intention to close down the Morselben Repository.
Germany now stores radioactive waste in nearly 50 locations, including
18 power plants, two off-site power plant waste storage facilities, collecting
depots for medicine, industry, and universities, and at its larger research
centers.
A planned repository for low-level radioactive waste at the abandoned
Konrad iron ore mine is awaiting licensure by the Lower Saxony Ministry
for the Environment. The former mine may eventually hold low-heat-producing
radioactive wastes, which account for more than 95 percent of Germany’s
radioactive waste. Preliminary investigations began in 1976, followed
by six years of underground exploration and long-term safety assessments.
If the Konrad site is not selected, another option would be to store both
low- and possibly high-level radioactive wastes in the Asse salt mine.
Since 1965, this mine has been an area of intense research and development
of the characteristics of a salt repository. Low-level radioactive wastes
have been disposed of in the salt mine since 1967 as a demonstration of
underground disposal.
Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste
Spent nuclear fuel is stored in reactor pools for 3-10 years. Some reactors
also have on-site dry storage.
Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel
Germany had reprocessing contracts with other countries until 1989. Vitrified
(solidified) high-level radioactive waste from France and Britain are
temporarily stored at facilities in Gorleben and Ahaus. High-level radioactive
wastes from reprocessing are stored at the facilities where they were
created.
Transporting radioactive waste
Most spent nuclear fuel transportation is by rail in casks that are also
used for storage. Transportation is by private carriers under government-issued
permits.
Deep geologic disposal plans
Underground exploration of a salt dome at Gorleben began in 1986. The
Gorleben site had been studied since 1979 as a potential permanent radioactive
waste repository. After the 1999 parliamentary election, study of the
Gorleben salt dome was temporarily stopped, pending further study of other
types of geologic environments and to clarify conceptual and safety issues.
A new site will be selected based on comparison with Gorleben, which may
yet be an interim storage site. Steel canisters are being considered for
radioactive waste containment.
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
Yucca Mountain Project
1551 Hillshire Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89134
1-800-225-6972
http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov
DOE/YMP-0412
June 2001 |