Experts present feasibility studies

Today, the experts charged by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) present the results of their feasibility studies for the decommissioning of the Asse II mine. Under discussion are the retrieval of the radioactive waste, their relocation into deeper areas of Asse, or the complete backfilling of the facility with a special type of concrete. At the end of the year, BfS will determine the position of points as to which option should be pursued further. Prior to a final decision about the decommissioning way to be pursued further, the public and the parties involved will have the possibility to discuss the technical results of the comparison of options.

“We will try to establish the greatest possible safety for the affected persons,” BfS President Wolfram König said. The experts will present their decommissioning options and explain their benefits and disadvantages in a public informative meeting in Schöppenstedt. Thereafter, the experts will be available for questions. BfS will not present an own evaluation in today’s informative meeting. “It is the first time that the public have participated in the decommissioning of a nuclear facility right from the start,” König said. This new procedure provides for a comprehensive participation of the interested public already before solutions to problems have been developed and not only after concepts and plan documents have been completed.

BfS as the new operator of the Asse repository has implemented the philosophy this procedure is based on since it has taken over operatorship. This procedure is exemplary and there is no alternative to it, since in the past, among others, risks were only incompletely communicated. Therefore, the expert reports on the options will be presented as soon as they have been submitted to BfS. “We wish a broad participation of the public and will examine all suggestions,” König said. As the responsible operator, BfS must take the final decision and take responsibility as to how the Asse mine will be decommissioned.

To be able to evaluate the decommissioning options as objectively and comprehensibly as possible, BfS defined criteria together with the Asse Accompanying Group and the Comparison of Options working group. With the help if these criteria, three decommissioning options will be examined, compared, and rated. At the end of the year, BfS will announce the results of the comparison of options. Following a phase of public discussion, the nuclear licensing procedure will be initiated, in which the public and the Asse Accompanying Group will intensively participate, too.