Repository Commission pays visit to Asse and Konrad mines

Focal point: Experiences gained by the BfS with the remediation of the Asse mine and the extension of the Konrad mine

Members of the Repository Commission visiting the Asse mine Members of the Repository Commission visiting the Asse mine

Members of the Repository Commission gathered information on the Asse mine on 8 February 2016 in Remlingen. The President of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), Wolfram König, provided information about the current status of works. However, the focus was mainly on the experiences the BfS gained in the past years in association with disposal.

"To find solutions to the repository question, we always need to consider both sides: the technical and the societal side", says Wolfram König. "On the one hand, we need to ensure a high safety level according to the state of the art of science and technology, on the other hand, we need to give citizens the chance to get involved in the discussion by presenting the facts in a comprehensible way."

On the following day, the members of the Repository Commission got an idea of the status of works at the Konrad repository in Salzgitter, which is under construction.

Repository Commission visiting the Konrad mine The Repository Commission gathers information underground in the Konrad mine

Tasks of the Repository Commission

The mandate of the so-called Repository Commission is to prepare the new search for a site for the permanent storage in particular of high-level radioactive waste materials. For this purpose it develops criteria for the site selection, rules in particular for the public participation in the search for a site and reviews the Repository Site Selection Act. Currently the Commission is preparing its final report which will be submitted to the Bundestag, Bundesrat and the federal government in the middle of this year.

Note: Current information

In 2016, the legislator adapted the governmental institutions to the current developments and responsibilities. The specialised tasks concerning nuclear safety and nuclear waste management, which up to then had been the responsibility of BfS, were transferred to the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BfE), which was founded in 2014, and the BGE, the Federal Company for the Permanent Storage of Radioactive Waste, which was founded in 2016.

Current information concerning nuclear safety and nuclear waste management can be found at www.bfe.bund.de and www.bge.de.