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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Transports of radioactive waste to the Konrad repository

The public are concerned about future transports of radioactive waste to the Konrad repository. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) as the operator of the repository takes the public concerns seriously and contributes to ensuring the safety of the transport at all times. Irrespective of the fact that the BfS neither carries out nor licenses transports, the BfS is committed to examining and evaluating possible risks and uncertainties. While responsibility for the transports is with the waste producer, the licensing and supervision of the transports is done by the competent federal state authorities.

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) commissioned the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit mbH (GRS) with conducting a transport study for Konrad. This study was to examine whether the protection goals for man and environment are complied with during the transport of the radioactive waste to Konrad and whether this also applies to bundled transports. Furthermore it was to be examined whether the requirements of the Radiation Protection Ordinance are taken into consideration.

After the results had become known, the city of Salzgitter commissioned the intac company with their evaluation. According to intac’s evaluation, the GRS study on transports to Konrad revealed shortcomings.

In a second step the results from the intac study were given to the GRS experts in order for them to make a short-term evaluation. The results will be available shortly and will be published.

Questions that had not been considered in the scope of the transport study, not being relevant to transports but being relevant to the BfS for safety reasons, are addressed separately.

What are the legal bases for the transports?

In the scope of nuclear law and hazardous goods law, the legislator has issued comprehensive rules in terms of transports of radioactive material. The provisions in the field of transports of radioactive waste that are effective in Germany and world-wide are based on the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The purpose of these provisions is to prevent the hazards associated with the transport of radioactive materials, in particular the damaging effect of ionising radiation to life, health and material goods or, respectively, to reduce them to a justifiable extent.

What types of radioactive waste will be transported to Konrad and what volumes?

In the Konrad repository, radioactive waste with negligible heat generation will be disposed of in future, i.e. low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste. According to the plan-approval decision the volume is limited to 303,000 cubic metres.

A waste container is being filled with concrete A waste container is being filled with concreteA waste container is being filled with concrete

The waste and its packaging admitted for delivery to and storage in the Konrad repository need to meet safety-related and disposal-related requirements. For example, the waste must be delivered in approved waste containers suitable for disposal. These prerequisites are checked prior to disposal to the repository. The transports are licensed by the competent federal state authorities.

Basically, the waste can only be accepted after prior announcement by the waste producers like nuclear power plants, research institutions or federal state collecting depots.

Who is responsible for delivering the waste?

The punctual delivery of radioactive waste to the repository which meets the requirements – including the choice of carrier and transport medium – is in the responsibility of the waste producers. They use a suitable and authorised entrepreneur. The persons commissioned with the transport need to have knowledge of the possible radiation exposure and the protection measures to be applied. Drivers need a special training for the transport of hazardous goods of “class 7” (radioactive materials).

As opposed to the transports of nuclear fuels that are licensed by the BfS, the approval of transports of waste with negligible heat generation depends on the modes of transport chosen by the waste producers:

  • Is the waste delivered by rail, the transport needs to be approved by the Federal Railway Authority.
  • Transport by road needs to be approved by the individual federal states. Transport by other modes of transport is not provided for.

By which mode of transport will the waste reach Konrad?

According to the present state of knowledge it can be assumed that the waste will the major part of the waste will be delivered by rail to the Konrad repository. About 80 per cent of the transports will be carried out by rail and about 20 % by road.

Does the transport of radioactive waste pose a risk to the public?

With the “Transport Study Konrad” the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit mbH (GRS)

  1. has determined the radiation exposure associated with accident-free transport to the public and the transport staff and
  2. has estimated and evaluated the transport accident risk in the siting region of the repository associated with the delivery of the waste, assessing the frequency and effects of such an accident to be expected.

The study comes to the conclusion that the transports do not pose any relevant radiological risk to man and environment.

State of 2013.04.16

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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