Germany

Germany has 17 nuclear reactors that generate around 25 percent of the total electricity production.

The current waste management strategy foresees decentralised interim storage at the power plant sites, although there are centralised storage facilities at Ahaus and Gorleben. Radioactive waste will ultimately be disposed of in geological repositories.

Between 1971 and 1998, low- and intermediate-level waste was disposed of in the decommissioned Morsleben salt mine. The repository is currently being backfilled and closure is planned from 2013/14. The former Asse salt mine was used for test emplacement of radioactive waste disposal from 1967 to 1978. In 2009, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection looked at potential decommissioning options for the facility. A construction licence has been granted by the Environment Ministry of Lower Saxony for a geological repository for waste with low heat production in the former Konrad iron ore mine. Following the decision of the Federal Government in 2007 to use the Konrad mine as a repository, work on converting the facility has now been initiated. Operation could begin in 2013.

A geological repository for all types of radioactive waste is planned in the Gorleben salt dome. The investigation activities were halted in 2000 for a minimum of three and a maximum of ten years. In 2009, the government announced that the investigations would resume.

Further information:

www.bfs.de (Federal Office for Radiation Protection)
www.bmu.de (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety)
www.dbe.de (Company for the Construction and Operation of Waste Repositories)

Photographs available for downloading at «Service - Mediathek - Fotogalerien» on the BMU website.