Objective approach to energy debate urgently needed: Strangulation strategy endangers German energy position
16.7.2010
Waste Management
The Long Route to the Final Repository
Once a fuel assembly has been used in the nuclear power plant to generate electricity for around three to four years, it is replaced. So approximately a quarter of the fuel assemblies in a nuclear power plant are renewed each year. As they are still releasing heat, they initially remain in the power plant`s spent fuel pool to cool down. When the heat generation has decayed sufficiently, they are packaged in special flasks and placed in the relevant nuclear power plant`s decentralised interim storage facility. In contrast, waste from French reprocessing is sent to the central interim storage facility in Gorleben or to Ahaus where, among other things, fuel assemblies from a research reactor are stored. On one hand the natural radioactivity of the waste is reduced and on the other the time until the final repository is built is bridged by the safe storage of the waste in interim storage facilities.
Radioactive residual products, other than those generated by electricity production, arise in many fields in daily life. Medicine and research are just some examples of this. Residual products which have been generated by public establishments are collected in the federal state collecting facilities. In addition to the central interim storage facilities, the site-based interim storage facilities and the federal state collecting facilities, there are also interim storage capacities at research centres and other nuclear facilities.
Final Disposal in Germany
Radioactive waste must be shielded securely from the biosphere for a long time until its radioactivity has decayed. According to international scientific opinion, this is guaranteed in deep geological formations. So far the most varied sites all over the world have been explored and assessed for their suitability. The formations investigated have existed for millions of years and neither ice ages, nor the seas lying above them nor the upward folding of mountain ranges nor any other sometimes violent upheavals on the earth`s surface have had any effect on their interior. The German waste management concept takes advantage of this. The aim is to return the final disposal site back to a virtually original condition by means of complete enclosure after the end of emplacement - the waste would then be safely embedded like a fossil in amber.
The Konrad Iron Ore Mine Pit - Final Repository For Low and Medium Active Waste
An information point in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt provides visitors with information about the building phase and the utilisation concept of the Konrad pit future final repository for low and medium active waste. According to forecasts by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) some 270,400 m3 of low and medium active waste from medicine, research and industry will be stored here in 2040. These low and medium active waste packages form a good 90 percent of Germany`s total radioactive waste volume. The waste is made up, for example, of contaminated syringes, cleaning cloths, laboratory apparatus, building waste, etc.
The decisive factor for selecting the Konrad pit was that mighty layers of clay and marl, which prevent near-surface groundwater from penetrating into the mine shaft, lie above the iron ore deposits. The mine is exceptionally dry due to these special geological characteristics and ideal for the final disposal of radioactive materials. Modification has begun. According to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection`s current design basis, the Konrad final repository should be commissioned at the end of 2013.
Once a fuel assembly has been used in the nuclear power plant to generate electricity for around three to four years, it is replaced. So approximately a quarter of the fuel assemblies in a nuclear power plant are renewed each year. As they are still releasing heat, they initially remain in the power plant`s spent fuel pool to cool down. When the heat generation has decayed sufficiently, they are packaged in special flasks and placed in the relevant nuclear power plant`s decentralised interim storage facility. In contrast, waste from French reprocessing is sent to the central interim storage facility in Gorleben or to Ahaus where, among other things, fuel assemblies from a research reactor are stored. On one hand the natural radioactivity of the waste is reduced and on the other the time until the final repository is built is bridged by the safe storage of the waste in interim storage facilities.
Radioactive residual products, other than those generated by electricity production, arise in many fields in daily life. Medicine and research are just some examples of this. Residual products which have been generated by public establishments are collected in the federal state collecting facilities. In addition to the central interim storage facilities, the site-based interim storage facilities and the federal state collecting facilities, there are also interim storage capacities at research centres and other nuclear facilities.
Final Disposal in Germany
Radioactive waste must be shielded securely from the biosphere for a long time until its radioactivity has decayed. According to international scientific opinion, this is guaranteed in deep geological formations. So far the most varied sites all over the world have been explored and assessed for their suitability. The formations investigated have existed for millions of years and neither ice ages, nor the seas lying above them nor the upward folding of mountain ranges nor any other sometimes violent upheavals on the earth`s surface have had any effect on their interior. The German waste management concept takes advantage of this. The aim is to return the final disposal site back to a virtually original condition by means of complete enclosure after the end of emplacement - the waste would then be safely embedded like a fossil in amber.
The Konrad Iron Ore Mine Pit - Final Repository For Low and Medium Active WasteAn information point in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt provides visitors with information about the building phase and the utilisation concept of the Konrad pit future final repository for low and medium active waste. According to forecasts by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) some 270,400 m3 of low and medium active waste from medicine, research and industry will be stored here in 2040. These low and medium active waste packages form a good 90 percent of Germany`s total radioactive waste volume. The waste is made up, for example, of contaminated syringes, cleaning cloths, laboratory apparatus, building waste, etc.
The decisive factor for selecting the Konrad pit was that mighty layers of clay and marl, which prevent near-surface groundwater from penetrating into the mine shaft, lie above the iron ore deposits. The mine is exceptionally dry due to these special geological characteristics and ideal for the final disposal of radioactive materials. Modification has begun. According to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection`s current design basis, the Konrad final repository should be commissioned at the end of 2013.
Gorleben Salt Dome - Possible Storage Site For High Active Waste30 metres high, 30 metres deep and 30 metres long. According to the forecast by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), a cube of this volume corresponds to the total amount of waste from German nuclear power plants in 2040. According to the German final repository concept, the intention is to create a suitable deep geological store.
The Gorleben salt dome in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony has been under intensive investigation for its suitability as a final repository for all types of radioactive waste for over 20 years. The mighty salt dome is 14 kilometres long and at its widest point covers up to 4 kilometres of rock salt. The salt deposit, which extends down to a depth of 3,500 metres, starts approximately 260 metres below the earth`s surface.
The mineralogical and geochemical investigations such as the spatial distribution of the aqueous rocks, the physical parameters and the substance of the rock system as well as brine inclusions and gases revealed a positive picture for a potential Gorleben final repository. According to the findings obtained so far, the salt dome appears to be suitable for the storage of high active waste.
However, the Federal Government at the time, a coalition of the SPD and the Green Party, considered it necessary at the end of 1999, in connection with the ongoing international discussion, to continue developing the suitability criteria for a final repository as well as to process a series of conceptual and safety-related questions. Since, in the opinion of the Federal Government at that time, further exploration of the Gorleben salt dome would be unable to contribute to the clarification of these questions, the underground exploration was interrupted on 1 October 2000 for at least three but at most ten years, i.e. until autumn 2010.
Since then exploration work in Gorleben has been on hold. Only measures to maintain the mine are permitted so as not to undermine previous investments and work results.
Germany needs a final repository for high active waste in the foreseeable future. The licence for the storage of irradiated fuel assemblies in interim storage facilities is limited to a maximum of 40 years. Explorations in the Gorleben salt dome are well advanced and very promising. According to these findings, Gorleben could guarantee the safe emplacement of high active waste for the required periods of time. However, for this it is necessary to conclude the investigations without anticipating the result and not to start searching for an alternative site without this scientific balance. Thus it is in fact absolutely essential and sensible to recommence the exploration work interrupted in 2000 and to bring it to a conclusion.
Asse Research MineThe former Asse salt mine in Lower Saxony has served since 1965 as the Federal Government`s research mine. Between 1967 and 1978 around 126,000 barrels of low and medium active waste were placed into storage for research purposes. The research work was halted in 1995 and final closure was applied for in 2007.
Since 1 January 2009, the BfS (Federal Office for Radiation Protection) as the successor of the Helmholtz Centre Munich has been responsible for the operation and decommissioning of the facility. Decommissioning of the Asse II mine shaft will take place in future within the framework of a nuclear licensing procedure. At present the specially employed "Option Comparison Study Group" is working on possible closure concepts. A final report should be available in 2009. Backfilling measures for individual excavation chambers have currently been brought forward as mining stabilisation for the salt mine.
An inflow of brine into the Asse and the lack of information in connection with this were a significant reason for the change of operator. This inflow of brine does not, however, argue against the basic suitability of salt as a host rock for the final disposal of radioactive materials. The Asse was originally a commercially used mine commonly referred to as "excavated" with a large number of galleries and excavation chambers in which salt was mined up to the overlying and adjoining rock leading up to the groundwater. In contrast the Gorleben salt dome was "unexcavated", that is to say without industrial pre-use, up to the beginning of the exploration measures and is therefore not comparable to the Asse salt dome.
Morsleben Final Repository For Radioactive WasteThe Morsleben final repository for radioactive waste (ERAM) was set up during the time of the GDR in the Bartensleben former potash and rock salt mine. Between 1981 and 1998 a total of around 36,750 m3 of low and medium active waste as well as around 6,600 enclosed radiation sources were placed into storage. The licensing procedure necessary for decommissioning has been initiated. Backfilling measures for individual excavation chambers have currently been brought forward as mining measures to prevent risks and should be concluded by about the end of 2009.
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