Waste acceptance requirements for Konrad

Requirements result from the safety-analytical investigations that need to be complied with when waste packages to be disposed of will be delivered to the repository in future. These requirements have been implemented in the Konrad waste acceptance requirements. In the frame of waste package quality control it is examined whether they are complied with.

Basic requirements

Irrespective of the waste acceptance requirements, the relevant laws, ordinances, directives and other provisions, such as the transports of respective hazardous goods, need to be fulfilled when waste packages to be disposed of are delivered to the repository. Binding and standardised requirements apply to the waste to be delivered that need to be complied with by all waste deliverers from industry and the public sector. They have been published since March 2011.

Requirements on waste packages

A waste container is being filled with concrete

For example, the waste packages need to be delivered without pressure. Furthermore, the local dose rate at the surface of each waste package must not exceed the maximum value of 2 millisievert per hour at the time of delivery.

Another requirement is that the non-adhesive surface contamination averaged over an area of 100 square centimetres must not exceed the following limit values at any place of the package surface:

• 0.5 becquerel per square centimetre for alpha-emitters,
• 50 becquerel per square centimetres for beta-emitters, and
• 5 becquerel per square centimetres for other radionuclides.

In order to be transported, handled and stacked in the repository, the radioactive waste is packaged in containers. These containers must also comply with the conditions specified by a certain type and with various basic requirements.