Status: 11/10/2022 3:17 p.m
It had already become apparent in the past few weeks that the schedule could falter. The Ministry of the Environment has now confirmed that the search for a nuclear waste repository will take longer than 2031.
By 2031, no repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste will be found in Germany. This emerges from a document from the Bundesgesellschaft für EndRepository mbH (BGE), which was commissioned to search, the Ministry of the Environment announced. When asked by the dpa, the ministry explained that the procedure “taking into account the high requirements for the selection of the location with the best possible security cannot be completed by 2031”. Up to now, Germany wanted to have determined the site for the disposal of its high-level radioactive waste.
“The principle of the best possible security must also be subordinated to time specifications, at the same time the goal must not be lost from sight,” explained a ministry spokesman.
Search for a repository for a million years
The delay results from a discussion paper by the Bundesgesellschaft für EndRepository mbH (BGE). It was written at the request of the environment department. Despite tough procedures, a location should be fixed by 2031. From 2050 the repository should be put into operation. The so-called Site Selection Act explicitly states: “The aim is to determine the site for the year 2031.”
“The site selection process aims to find the site for a repository that offers the best safety over a period of one million years,” the ministry spokesman said. “This is a high aspiration and a challenging task.” He also pointed out that the year 2031 had been adopted as the target from the results of the Repository Commission in the Site Selection Act. However, it was already clear back then that the actual time requirements would be difficult to estimate.
The Ministry of the Environment announced that it would now hold talks with the BGE and the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) on the basis of the discussion paper. This would then lead to conclusions to be drawn. The BASE is responsible for overseeing the selection process, the BGE for its implementation.
The search for a repository for the highly radioactive waste produced in Germany has been difficult for years.