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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Booking Request

Schachtfahrt

Booking Request

Want to see at first hand how things look at 1,000 metres beneath the earth’s surface, and deeper? Let us take you on an interesting and informative journey into the inner workings of Konrad. We’ll show you what goes on underground, where the radioactive waste will be stored.

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Konrad Overview

Microsite Konrad

Konrad Overview

With this additional internetsite the Federal Office for Radiation Protection will give you a more exemplified and animated view of the future Konrad repository in Salzgitter.

To the Microsite (in German)
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ODL-Values

ODL-Messwerte

ODL-Values

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection is continuously monitoring the environmental radioactivity in Germany. About 1.800 Probes distributed all over Germany are measuring the gamma dose rate (GDR)

ODL-Values near Konrad (in German)
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Main themes

News & Publications

Symbolic image of a nuclear waste drum with binary code

NewsDigital documentation system improves oversight and control of Konrad waste

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Loading waste containers suitable for final storage

statementOption for a central receiving storage facility for low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes

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The image depicts a roadheader inside the emplacement chamber

ArticleCompletion of emplacement chambers

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Mobile driller boring holes for fixing strata bolts in preparation for the storage roadway

statementQuestions on the KONRAD repository concept

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INFO KONRAD welcomes 30,000 visitor

ArticleINFO KONRAD welcomes 30,000 visitor

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Topics

Konrad RepositoryThe iron ore deposit

The Konrad mine is the youngest of the former iron ore mines in the Salzgitter region. The iron ore deposit of the Gifhorn Trough extends over a length of about sixty kilometres and a width of eight to fifteen kilometres.

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Konrad RepositoryThe hydrogeological Situation

An important criterion for disposal is that the radioactive waste is not connected to the ground water. This is the case with the Konrad mine: mighty layers of argillaceous rock prevent the ground water from flowing into the mine.

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Konrad RepositoryFossil water in Konrad

The repository is sealed to groundwater by clayey rock. Existing waters are inclusions originating from the time the ore deposit formed.

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EmplacementFacilities at the surface

The surface installations of the Konrad mine in Salzgitter-Bleckenstedt were built prior to shaft sinking or immediately thereafter in the 1950s and 1960s. Since 2007, comprehensive building measures have been carried out for the construction of the repository.

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Konrad RepositoryHistory: From iron ore deposit to repository

The Konrad mine has had a changeful history. That the iron ore deposit was discovered at all, was coincidental: When drilling for raw oil, iron ore was found instead of oil.

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Konrad RepositoryLicence and legal bases

It was a long way from the idea to use Konrad as a repository for waste with negligible heat generation until the start of implementation. It took already about 20 years to just have the licence granted, the so-called plan-approval decision.

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Konrad RepositoryThe geological condition of Konrad

The iron ore deposit of the Konrad mine, where radioactive waste is to be disposed of, formed about 150 million years ago in the Jurassic period.

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Konrad RepositoryRock mechanics and seismology

The Konrad site is located in a tectonically undisturbed zone in Germany. The last relevant tectonic movements in the vicinity of the site took place about five million years ago.

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Konrad RepositoryKonrad's suitability to host a repository

In a depth of 800 to 1,300 metres of the Konrad mine there are iron ore deposits where one intends to dispose of the radioactive waste. Compared with other iron ore mines, Konrad is exceptionally dry. The covering layer of clay rocks, which is 160 to 400 m thick, seals the mine against the groundwater near the surface and the Salzgitter branch canal.

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Other BfS-Websites

Das Gebäudes des Hauptsitzes in Salzgitter

Federal Office for Radiation Protection

Responsibility for people and the environment: BfS works for the safety and protection of man and the environment against damages due to ionising and non-ionising radiation.

www.bfs.de

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Fördergerüst und Schachthalle Schacht Asse 2

Asse II mine

The Asse II mine near Wolfenbüttel is an approximately 100-year-old potash and salt mine. Between 1967 and 1978 radioactive waste were storaged here. In 2009 the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) took over operatorship for the Asse II mine. The task of BfS is to retrieve the radioactive waste and to decommission the Asse mine.

www.asse.bund.de

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Endlager Morsleben - Luftaufnahme

Morsleben Repository

The Bartensleben mine in Morsleben served to mine potash and rock salt before it became a repository for radioactive waste in 1971. Until 1998, waste from nuclear power plants from the GDR and, later on, also from the Federal Republic of Germany was disposed of here. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection has now also applied for the decommissioning of the repository.

www.endlager-morsleben.de

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