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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Financing the Asse Project – Data & Facts

More complex tasks require increasing expenditures

In 2009 BfS assumed responsibility for the operation of the Asse mine. The tasks related to the decommissioning of the former mine have become increasingly time-consuming and complex over the last few years. Along with the tasks, the effective actual costs have been on the increase year over year since BfS assumed the operation of the mine.

Large number of subprojects

After comparing different options it was decided in 2010 to retrieve the wastes stored underground. This decision led to a large number of subprojects to be implemented, such as

  • fact finding
  • planning the retrieval
  • building a new retrieval shaft or
  • establishing emergency plans.

The individual projects are frequently impaired by technical uncertainties, and some of them require costly and time-consuming, unusual or even new-to-be-developed methods. At the same time complications are more than likely since the Asse mine installations were built more than 100 years ago and had been practically left to themselves over several decades. The potential and necessary expenditures to be spent on this project can therefore only be roughly estimated.

Asse budget framework conditions:

  • BfS submits the relevant annual financial needs to the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federal Ministry of Finance so that these figures enter into the government's federal budget draft.
  • These annual financial needs must be approved by parliament (body legislating on the budget) as part of the federal budget. The legislator is entitled to make changes to the submitted financial needs.
  • BfS is also allowed to use residual amounts from previous years to cover higher financial needs. This ensures a flexible budget that can be adapted to the relevant situation and needs.

Figures & facts

The following table lists all important figures relating to the Asse project financing since BfS assumed responsibility in 2009, as provided by BfS.

These figures show that the effective costs for the Asse mine have been on the increase year over year since takeover. These costs do not reflect the totality of the work performed each year since there is usually a time lag between accomplishment of a work task and entry of the relevant payment into the budget.

Figures & facts
Budget yearResidual amounts from previous yearsClaimed by BfSApproved by legislatorEffective actual costs
- in million Euros -
2009---92.792.769.0
201023.779.075.074.0
201124.7108.080.079.5
201225.3127.7100.091.7
201333.5142.6142.6109.2
201467.0163.3121.3114.15
201574.1189.4110.0117.3


State of 2016.04.06

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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