Radiant nuclear waste in the neighborhood - that is a horror idea for many.
This morning (September 28th) it will be announced where a repository for large amounts of nuclear waste could potentially be built in Germany.
A map with possible
repositories
will determine the discussion on Monday.
Radiant nuclear waste
is to be stored permanently in Germany in the future - for a million years.
Which
German regions will be
affected - we will publish that here with the announcement.
Peine / Munich - Which ten to 100 locations are possible when looking for a repository for German nuclear waste - that will be
officially announced by
the
Federal Association for Final Storage (BGE)
on Monday, September 28th.
Because there are already three smaller German repositories, but they are not enough and in some cases are even unsuitable.
However, the radioactive waste that
arises
during energy generation in
nuclear power plants
and during nuclear research
has to go somewhere
- or has already arisen.
The publication on Monday will be followed by many years of exploration and certainly bitter discussions.
The background to the current search for a repository: The previous capacities are nowhere near sufficient.
Therefore
new locations
have to be found.
The BGE has assessed possible locations.
The first result comes on September 28th: "We divide the Federal Republic of Germany into two parts - those regions that cannot be considered, and those regions that appear interesting and will be further investigated in the further process," says Steffen Kanitz, managing director of UBI.
“There will be at least ten and a maximum of 100 areas.” A final decision is then scheduled to be
made in 2031
.
Search for a final repository for nuclear waste: Mathematically, the amount would cover all of Munich
Overall, the federal government assumes in the worst case around 600,000 cubic meters of waste that has to be stored.
This is of course only a classification of the amount - where specifically in a few years a repository will be slumbering underground will become more precise on September 28th than ever.
Here you will find a map and all information about the possible repository locations.
Several factors play a role in assessing a location.
The minimum requirements include above all
geological conditions
.
Only certain stones are suitable for deep deposits over
a million years
.
It is also relevant how tight a room is, i.e. whether particles and gases can escape through the rock strata and at what depth the storage facility could be set up.
An area can only remain in the selection process if all the minimum requirements are met.
Many exclusion criteria are also taken into account.
Unsuitable locations, where volcanism could occur or rock slabs move, are excluded from the assessment.
Places where mining was carried out are also no longer taken into account.
"Because any influence on the rock leads to its protective effect being weakened," explains Dagmar Dehmer in a BGE video.
From interim storage to repository: radioactive waste is looking for a place to stay for a million years
Initially, the still
highly radioactive
waste is
stored
in
interim storage facilities
- often on the site of a power plant itself.
When storing the waste, a distinction is made between low, medium and high radioactive levels, depending on the harmfulness to health.
The radioactivity of the substances decreases over time.
Waste with weak to medium radiation can be transported to repository.
Most of the
nuclear waste
comes from nuclear power plants.
Typical waste in this case is filters, scrap metal, paper, laboratory waste, construction waste, wood, sludge or mixed waste.
The waste is not only created during energy production, but especially when
power plants are dismantled
, rubbish remains behind.
Nuclear engineering processes that lead to nuclear waste are also used in research and industry.
As the Federal Agency for Final Storage explains, there are currently three final repositories in Germany:
Asse, Konrad and Morsleben
.
However, storage in the
Asse
mine
in the Wolfenbüttel district has proven to be unsuitable.
Therefore, a
retrieval of
the
nuclear waste stored
between
1967 and 1978
is currently
planned.
The waste with a volume of 47,000 cubic meters has to be relocated.
This was passed by law in 2013.
The
Morsleben
repository,
in turn, contains 37,000 cubic meters of low and medium level radioactive waste.
Nuclear waste was disposed of there between 1971 and 1998.
The plant is also to be shut down.
The stored materials remain in place.
The
Konrad
repository
in Lower Saxony is the first repository in Germany approved under nuclear law.
As soon as it is completed, the warehouse should offer space for 303,000 cubic meters of low and medium level radioactive waste.
Atomic energy: Six German nuclear power plants are still active
In general, Germany wants to
phase
out
nuclear energy
completely
.
Six nuclear power plants are currently still in operation.
The
Gundremmingen C, Grohnde and Brokdorf
locations
are to be shut down by the end of 2021.
The
Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Emsland plants
one year later.
The repository that is currently being sought must therefore also be sufficient for the nuclear waste that is still generated.
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Transparency: Our data, sources and methods
In our research, we used information and data from the Federal Agency for Repository Search, the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
