On 25 April 2017, the operator responsibilities for the Asse II mine as well as the Konrad and Morsleben repositories were transferred to the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH, BGE). This website of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) will therefore no longer be updated and displays the status as on 24 April 2017. You will find current information at the BGE: www.bge.de

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What will become of Asse?

Safety for future generations

Modernisation of the hoisting plant shaft "Asse 2"

Headframe of shaft Asse II Headframe of shaft Asse IIHeadframe of shaft Asse II

To be able to safely transport the waste to be recovered from the emplacement chambers of the Asse mine, it is planned to place the waste in special transport casks (overpacks) underground and to take them to the surface subsequently. The waste will be transported via the new to build shaft (shaft Asse 5). The existing hoisting plant in the Asse 2 shaft does not fulfil the requirements for a safe transport of the waste and is not suitable for an operating time lasting several more decades without prior remediation of the existing equipment, routine maintenance and repair. For an operation over a longer period of time, shaft 2 must therefore be modernised in order to further enable energy supply and waste disposal of the underground facilities including man haulage for the employed staff and ventilation of the mine openings.

Status of works

In order to determine the necessary planning bases, several experts have made a comprehensive survey of the present state and the need for remediation of the individual complexes of shaft 2. The following planning stages and the necessary licensing procedure according to Mining Law will be carried out in the next years. How and in what order the individual remediation measures can be implemented (to secure the second mobile exit from the mine openings or only after completion of shaft 5) follows from the future planning stages.

State of 2016.11.30

Transfer of operator responsibilities

On 25 April 2017, the operator responsibilities for the Asse II mine as well as the Konrad and Morsleben repositories were transferred to the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH, BGE). Previously, the responsibility for the projects was with the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS). The foundations for the change of operatorship are laid down in the "Act on the Realignment of the Organisational Structures in the Field of Radioactive Waste Disposal", which became effective on 30 July 2016. The BfS focusses on the federal tasks of radiation protection, for example in the field of defence against nuclear hazards, medical research, mobile communication, UV protection or the measuring networks for environmental radioactivity.

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