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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Safety

Safe compliance with limit values

After the repository has been taken into operation it will still be safe to take a bath in the Salzgittersee. SalzgitterseeAfter the repository has been taken into operation it will still be safe to take a bath in the Salzgittersee.

The limit value for radiation exposure to a person has been set out in the provisions of the Radiation Protection Ordinance. For individuals of the population the limit value is 1 millisievert per year. That is about half of the natural radiation exposure occurring in Germany.

In the plan documents, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection had to prove that the limit values set out in the Radiation Protection Ordinance will be complied with when radioactive waste is stored in Konrad.

Calculated conservatively – assuming the least favourable variant

Model calculations determining radiation exposure are always based on the worst case. That means that conditions and assumptions taken as a basis are selected in such a manner that one cannot underestimate their consequences. For example, for the calculation of the potential radiation exposure it is assumed that all foodstuffs consumed by a person over one year and the whole drinking water come from the immediate vicinity of the facility.

Safe compliance with limit values

Radioactive materials are discharged from Konrad with the waste water and the exhaust air and reach the environment. For all age groups of the general public, the maximum radiation exposure resulting from these discharges does not exceed 0.19 millisievert per year for the effective dose. Even persons staying right beside the facility fence all over the year could receive a maximum dose of 0.6 millisievert per year due to direct radiation caused by Konrad. The effective dose limit of 1 millisievert per year for individuals of the population set out in the provisions of the Radiation Protection Ordinance is thus kept. So, from the radiological point of view, every type of use of the terrain around the Aue and the Konrad repository is safe. Safe compliance with the limit values is continuously monitored by the Konrad environmental monitoring system. .

Minimum radiation exposure to the staff

The conditions taken as a basis to assess the radiation exposure to the Konrad repository staff assume the worst case. Collateral clauses were decreed by the licensing authority whose objective is to minimise the radiation exposure to the operating staff.

Professed aim: As low as possible

It is the Federal Office for Radiation Protection's declared aim to keep the unavoidable discharges, the direct radiation and the associated radiation exposures as low as possible, even below the legal limit values.

Comparative table on radiation exposure
Exposure pathwayRadiation exposure and limit values according to StrlSchV in millisievert per year
Infant aged < 1 yearAdult aged > 17 yearsLimit value
Exhaust air (§ 47)0.050.0280.3
Exhaust water (§ 47)0.1390.0610.3
Direct radiation (§ 46)0.6 1)0.62)
Sum of discharges and direct radiation (§ 46)0.790.691

1) For radiation exposure due to direct radiation the value for adults is used for infants, too.
2) The limit value of 2 millisievert per year applies to direct radiation, minus the radiation exposure due to discharges.

Remarks on the table:

The table shows the maximum radiation exposure which can affect an individual due to direct radiation and the discharges of radioactive substances with exhaust air and waste water from the Konrad repository, compared with the limit values set out in the provisions of the Radiation Protection Ordinance. The effective dose is given for the highest exposed person (infant) and an adult person.

State of 2016.04.01

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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