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

Navigation and service

The repository

Since 1990: Pan-German repository

  • After German reunification, the Morsleben repository for radioactive waste was transferred to the area of responsibility of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) became the operator of the repository.
  • The permanent operating licence granted by the GDR was considered a factual plan-approval decision.
  • Emplacement operation of low-level to intermediate-level radioactive waste was resumed in 1994.
  • Following a fundamental reappraisal, the BfS irrevocably waivered the acceptance of further radioactive wastes and their disposal in the Morsleben repository in 2001.

Based on the Unification Treaty, the Morsleben repository for radioactive waste was transferred to the area of responsibility of the Federal Republic of Germany after German reunification – the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) became the operator of the repository. The permanent operating licence granted by the GDR was considered a factual plan-approval decision which continued to be effective until 30 June 2000.

Right from the start, the transition of the GDR operating licence without carrying out a plan-approval procedure required for the construction of a repository was disputed in the public. On 20 February 1991 emplacement operations discontinued on account of a provisional order of the Magdeburg District Court. This provisional order was cancelled by the Federal Administrative Court on 25 June 1992, though. Emplacement operation of low-level to intermediate-level radioactive waste was resumed in 1994.

On 13 October 1992, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection – upon order given by the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) – submitted the application for the initiation of a plan-approval (licensing) procedure for further operation beyond the year 2000 to the competent Ministry of Agriculture and Environment of Saxony-Anhalt (MLU). In 1997, the BfS restricted this application to the decommissioning of the Morsleben repository.

Radioactive waste in the eastern field Radioactive waste in the eastern fieldRadioactive waste in the eastern field

However, based on an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act, the operating permit was extended in 1998 until 30 June 2005. The government of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt filed a complaint to the Federal Constitutional Court against the extension. In November 1997, the Saxony-Anhalt association of the environmental organisation BUND filed a suit, because no plan-approval procedure had been carried out for the storage of radioactive wastes in the eastern field and the eastern field was not part of the GDR permanent operating licence of 1986. In September 1998, an application for an injunction regarding waste emplacement at the Magdeburg Higher Administrative Court was successful – further emplacement in the western field was prohibited until a final court decision would be issued on the merits of the case. Thereupon the BfS discontinued the acceptance and emplacement of radioactive wastes altogether.

Following a fundamental reappraisal, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection irrevocably waivered the acceptance of further radioactive wastes and their disposal in the Morsleben repository in 2001, as this was no longer justified for safety reasons.

State of 2017.01.03

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.

© Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz