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Morsleben repository stabilised

Stabilised areas in the central part (green) Stabilised areas in the central part (green)Stabilised areas in the central part (green; in German only)

The BfS has completed the stabilisation of the Morsleben repository in Saxony-Anhalt. Since October 2003, the operator of the old repository has backfilled 27 cavities with altogether 935,000 cubic metres of salt concrete. The cavities are located in the central part of the mine which has particularly many chambers and where no radioactive waste has been stored. "The previous measures show that the emplaced salt concrete has a supporting effect on the mine and that the goal of stabilising it has been achieved," Wolfram König, President of the BfS, emphasised today in Hanover. The works in Morsleben cost 163 million euros.

They had become necessary because the heavily holed central area had been a weak point of the repository. Without stabilisation measures, the load-bearing elements in this part of the old salt mine threatened to be destroyed. König: "The stability poses a fundamental problem of old salt mines that have not been backfilled such as Morsleben or the Asse mine near Wolfenbüttel. On that ground alone, a radioactive waste repository in such mines would no longer be permissible." Like in Morsleben, the area where the salt rock was mined in the Asse mine reached to the adjoining aquifers in parts. Also, similar volumes and activities of low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste has been stored in Morsleben and Asse. "We have made valuable experiences with the stabilisation measures taken in Morsleben, which help us secure the Asse mine," BfS President König emphasised. Contrary to Morsleben, the Asse mine had been backfilled with loose salt powder instead of salt concrete by the former operator. This powder has not produced the stabilising effect hoped for, so that currently a programme for the subsequent stabilisation of these areas with salt concrete is underway.

The stabilisation in Morsleben which has now concluded guarantees that the mine's stability will be maintained until the nuclear plan-approval procedure and the subsequent closure will have ended. "We have bought time to be able to perform a nuclear licensing procedure oriented towards long-term safety and, unlike in the Asse mine, we don't have to fear that the facility's state will worsen dramatically in the short term," König emphasised. At the same time, the stabilisation also keeps the paths open to those areas where radioactive waste has been stored. The backfilling is thus without prejudice to the final closure – that means the pendent nuclear decommissioning procedure remains unaffected by the stabilisation works.

In September 2005, the Federal Office submitted the plan documents for the public participation procedure for the final closure of the repository to the Environment Ministry Saxony-Anhalt as the competent plan-approval authority. The primary goal is to seal the repository in such a manner that it does not pose any risk for man and environment pursuant to the regulations set out in the Atomic Energy Act, not even in the long term. To achieve this goal, the BfS plans to widely backfill the extensive mine workings with salt concrete and to apply additional sealing. Many cavities and the horizontal galleries are to be backfilled to support the surrounding rock. Certain areas, such as those where waste has been stored, and the two shafts as well as certain connecting galleries are to be strengthened and sealed by additional structures, so that the radioactive waste can be kept away from the biosphere. In autumn 2009, the Environment Ministry of Saxony-Anhalt displayed the documents to the public. The required public hearing about these documents has now been planned to take place in autumn this year. In the event of a licence being granted, the actual works until the final closure would again take about 15 to 20 years.

Background

The former potash and rock salt mine in Morsleben is the first radioactive waste repository in Germany that is planned to be decommissioned. Selected and licensed by the then competent authorities of the GDR, responsibility for the repository was transferred to the federal government on 3 October 1990, which continued to use Morsleben as repository for low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste. Following a court decision, emplacement operation in Morsleben discontinued in 1998. After it had made an own safety-related evaluation, the BfS irrevocably decided in 2001 to do without further emplacement and has concentrated to the closure of the facility under nuclear law. Until 1998, altogether about 37,000 cubic metres of low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste was stored in Morsleben about 60 per cent of which after 1990.

In the context of the participation procedure, about 15,000 objections were raised against the decommissioning plan. These objections will be discussed between objectors and the BfS in the scope of the public hearing headed by the Environment Ministry Saxony-Anhalt . According to the current plans of the Environment Ministry Saxony-Anhalt, the public hearing will be carried out in the 4th quarter 2011. Accordingly, the Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt must take a decision about all objections and, in a so-called plan-approval decision, about the decommissioning applied for by the BfS.

State of 2011.05.11

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