Working Group presents possibilities for improvement regarding the recovery of the Asse wastes

Processes relating to unique projects such as the Asse mine extending over longer periods of time are inevitably subject to changes and must be re-evaluated again and again. With the "Lex Asse" becoming effective, Wolfram König, the President of the BfS, therefore gave order to review the processes in the fact-finding process. This was done because experiences gained in the exploration and the time lapses in the licensing procedures had shown that these were not in conformity with the objective of retrieving the waste as soon as possible. Furthermore, the legal situation has changed since the fact-finding began. The "Lex Asse", which became effective in 2013, provides new legal options. For example, the necessary basic radiation protection considerations were already taken into account in the development of "Lex Asse". Previously, the Federal Environment Ministry followed the then effective legal position in 2010 and determined that a fact-finding take place before retrieval operations could start. Two chambers were to be examined on a trial basis to check the feasibility of retrieval. With the "Lex Asse" coming into force, a justification relating to single measures or decommissioning variants is no longer required.

The BfS takes account of these modifications by basically examining and as far as possible improving the processes. A working group established by the BfS President and consisting of experts from the BfS and the Asse-GmbH, therefore presents considerations on how to optimise the exploration programme dealing with the emplacement chambers, in order to improve the retrieval processes. Representatives of both the Federal and the Federal State Environment Ministry took part in the first meeting as well as representatives of the Asse-2 Monitoring Group.

Experiences gained influence future plans

Further significant changes resulted from the experiences gained over the past years. The BfS gathered important findings about the state of the chamber in the previous examinations of emplacement chamber 7. However, it has also shown that the licensing procedures and processes take too long. Furthermore, the experts know that individual results cannot be applied to other chambers, as had been planned initially. Uncertainties in the planning, however, lead to high licensing requirements, which again delay rather than improve the processes. These conditions, too, have been taken into account in the expert group’s considerations of an optimised process.

Possible changes in the sub-project "Fact-finding"

One possible option presented by the experts was to start recovering the wastes from two chambers. These are chamber 8 on the 511-m level and chamber 7 on the 725-m level. As comprehensive data for these chambers is available from the past, recovery from these chambers would be started more rapidly. As to whether it is possible to implement these proposals depends on whether a licence for the transport of the wastes via the existing shaft 2 could be granted and these wastes would not have to be recovered via the new shaft 5. In this variant, i.e. the earlier recovery from two chambers, experiences could be gathered with recovery techniques. The findings would be valuable for the future planning for retrieving the wastes from the other emplacement chambers.

Shortening of the working steps planned so far

The expert group recommends furthermore to do without the last two steps of the fact-finding. The previous planning of fact-finding included:

• Exploration of the chambers
• Opening of the chambers by way of trial
• Recovering the wastes by way of trial

The last two working steps could be omitted since they had been primarily designed for the "justification test".

Data for improved retrieval planning

The expert group also recommends to explore the residual 11 emplacement chambers parallel to the earlier recovery of the wastes from chambers 8 and 7, in order to enable a retrieval planning as detailed and safe as possible. Experiences have shown that too big uncertainties lead to strict safety regulations. Additionally necessary measures resulting from the safety regulations may delay the retrieval processes.

The goal of the working group and of the discussion on 15 April is to provide cause for thought regarding possible solutions. It needs to be found out in further discussions which solutions are sustainable and can be accepted by all parties involved.