Type of rock: Salt
Location: Saxony-Anhalt
Status: open
Goal: Decommissioning or backfilling with salt concrete (duration: approx. 15-20 years)

Operator: BGE mbH
Nuclear regulatory authority: BASE
Licensing authority: Ministry of Science, Energy, Climate Protection and the Environment of Saxony-Anhalt.

Facts and figures

The former potash and rock salt mine of the former GDR is being converted into a repository for low- and medium-level radioactive waste:

• 1971: Waste is stored on a trial basis
• 1978-1981: Trial operation
• 1981: Five-year operating licence
• 1986: Permanent operating licence (valid until today)
• 1989: The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) becomes operator
• 1994-1998: Storage of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste
• 2001: Site is reassessed. Result: BfS no longer stores waste.
• There are 36,752 m³ of radioactive waste in the Morsleben repository, about 60 per cent of which was emplaced after 1990.

Morsleben repository for low and intermediate level nuclear waste Source: pa/ ZB | Jens Wolf

Information on the Morsleben repository on the Internet

Morsleben repository

Rock type: Iron ore
Location: Lower Saxony
Status: expected to be built by 2027 (for max. 303,000 m³ of radioactive waste)

Operator: BGE mbH
Nuclear regulatory supervision: BASE
Licensing authority until commissioning: Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection
Licensing authority after commissioning: BASE

Facts and figures

• 1965-1976: Iron ore mine: Konrad 1 shaft and Konrad 2 shaft
• 1976 -1982: A review shows that the Konrad mine offers good conditions for a repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.
• 1982: Start of the nuclear planning approval procedure for the construction of a repository.
• 2002: Planning approval decision
• 2007: The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) commissions the then operator, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), to build the Konrad repository.
• Konrad is the first repository in Germany to be planned and approved under nuclear law.
• 2027: expected commissioning

Future transport route for low- and intermediate-level waste to the Konrad mine repository. Source: pa/ ZUMAPRESS.com | Jannis Grosse

Information on the Konrad repository on the Internet

Konrad repository

Rock type: Salt
Location: Lower Saxony
Status: Waste is retrieved, mine will then be decommissioned.

Operator: BGE mbH
Nuclear regulatory authority: BASE
Licensing authority: Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection

Facts and figures:

• 1967-1978: Storage of approx. 126,000 barrels (47,000 m³) of low- to intermediate-level radioactive waste. The operator of the mine was the Gesellschaft für Strahlenforschung (today: Helmholtz Zentrum München; HMGU).
• From 1971: Asse II serves as a repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste from all over Germany.
• 1979-1997: Research work on the final disposal of high-level radioactive waste in salt
• 1997: The federal government decides to close the Asse II mine in accordance with mining law. The original plan was to fill the mine with solids.
• 2009: The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) assumes role of operator. Mining law and nuclear law have applied to the Asse II mine since then.
• 2013: Decision: The waste is to be retrieved. This is enshrined in the Atomic Energy Act.
• BGE mbH has been operator of the mine since 2017.

Central water catchment basin in the Asse II mine Source: pa/ dpa | Sebastian Gollnow

Information on the Asse mine on the Internet

Asse II Mine

BASE is responsible for providing public information about incidents, accidents or other events relevant to nuclear safety at the Morsleben repository, Konrad and the Asse II mine. BGE mbH is obliged to report such events to BASE. All since 2017 are published on the BASE website.

The reporting criteria in the Nuclear Safety Officer and Reporting Ordinance form the basis for this. There are three reporting categories : Category S - Immediate report (without delay), Category E - Urgent report (within 24 hours), Category N - Normal report (within 5 working days).

The operator appoints one or more persons in accordance with nuclear law. These persons shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the obligations arising from the Atomic Energy Act, the Radiation Protection Ordinance and the licensing documents.

BASE approves the appointment of persons in charge according to nuclear law (Sections 9b para. 4, 7 para. 2 no. 1 AtG). The person responsible under nuclear law is the first point of contact for BASE on all questions relating to repository safety and compliance with the obligations arising from the licensing documents or legal provisions.

Furthermore, the person in charge according to the Federal Mining Act is another contact point for BASE regarding final disposal in mines.

BASE is in charge of monitoring the surroundings of the Morsleben repository and the Asse II mine. It has commissioned independent metrology bodies to do this.

• For the Morsleben repository, this is currently the Saxony-Anhalt State Office for Environmental Protection (LAU).
• For the Asse II mine, this is currently the "IAF - Radioökologie GmbH".

The measurements cover the radioactive substances released from a repository to the environment via waste water and sewage. The air, precipitation, surface water, drinking water, groundwater and soil in the vicinity of a repository, but also the vegetation, the rural food chain such as crops and meat products as well as milk and dairy products are also sampled metrologically.

As the operator, BGE mbH regularly takes samples of air, water, soil, vegetation, fruit, vegetables and milk, and compare its measurement results with those of BGE mbH. It assesses the radiation exposure as well as compliance with the maximum permissible activity discharges. The maximum permissible activity data and dose limits must be complied with. This is based on the Guideline for Emission and Immission Monitoring of Nuclear Facilities (REI).

In addition to the legally required measurements, an additional measurement programme in the interest of the citizens and local agriculture took place near the Asse II mine until 2017.

BASE will publish the measurement results it has commissioned:

Environmental monitoring reports

BASE issues clearance certificates (Section 31 StrlSchV): Radioactive materials and movable objects, buildings and ground surfaces that could be activated or contaminated may not exceed certain clearance values so as to be disposed of as waste.

The clearance values can be found in the Radiation Protection Ordinance. Clearance measurements are frequently carried out, especially in the Asse II mine. This is necessary because the water running from the surrounding rock into the salt dome is being removed on a continuing basis.

So-called modification procedures will be implemented in case of changes to the way facilities are built or operated. Changes that do not deviate significantly from the approved planning will be examined and subsequently approved by BASE.

An application must be submitted to the licensing authority for any major modification. In the case of the Konrad repository and the Asse II mine, the competent authority would be the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection.

In the case of the Morsleben repository, it would be the Ministry for the Environment, Agriculture and Energy of Saxony-Anhalt.

BASE carries out inspections of the repositories, and makes sure that construction work complies with the permits and legal regulations (e.g. planning approval decisions). In addition, BASE inspects the facilities, systems, components and facility safety.

BASE will also carry out an overall inspection once every five years for the Morsleben repository, and once every ten years for the Konrad repository and the Asse II mine.

BASE may issue instructions to initiate protective measures or to temporarily cease operation (Section 19 para 3 of the Atomic Energy Act). This will occur,

• if the facilities do not meet the requirements of nuclear and radiation protection law, or
• if there is a risk that radioactivity will have negative consequences for life, health or property.

BASE must verify the reliability of all persons relevant to the safety of the repositories and the Asse II mine (Section 12b AtG; AtZüV (Atomrechtliche Zuverlässigkeitsüberprüfungsverordnung (Nuclear reliability review ordinance)). This includes, for example, an identity check, an enquiry with the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, an enquiry with the Federal Commissioner for Stasi Records and with the Central Register of Foreigners/Aliens Authority. Depending on the activity and responsibility of the persons to be examined, BASE will carry out correspondingly extensive checks. Such an examination will only be carried out if the persons have given their prior written consent.

You will find the minutes of the status talks that have so far taken place between BASE and BGE mbH here. They contain all the discussion points on the repository projects that have arisen in the course of the supervisory activities.

Note: The agenda items from the supervisory status talks that concern the repository search can be found on the central repository search Infoplattform zur Endlagersuche.

(Minutes on various talks only in German)

Protokoll: 1. Statusgespräch am 13.12.2017 (PDF, 60 KB, accessible)

Protokoll: 2. Statusgespräch am 21.03.2018 (PDF, 61 KB, accessible)

Protokoll: 3. Statusgespräch am 21.01.2019 (PDF, 131 KB, accessible)

Protokoll: 4. Statusgespräch am 06.05.2019 (PDF, 66 KB, accessible)

Protokoll: 5. Statusgespräch am 28.11.2019 (PDF, 124 KB, accessible)

Protokoll: 6. Statusgespräch am 24.06.2020 (PDF, 67 KB, accessible)

Protokoll: 7. Statusgespräch am 07.12.2020 (PDF, 68 KB, accessible)

Ergebnisprotokoll: 8. Aufsichtliches Statusgespräch zwischen BASE und BGE mbH (PDF, 348 KB, File does not meet accessibility standards.)