Gorleben mine to be closed

Source: picture alliance / dpa | Bodo Marks

The “Zwischenbericht Teilgebiete” (Sub-Areas Interim Report) published by the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH (BGE) on September 28, 2020, removed the Gorleben salt mine from a list of potential final repository sites for geological reasons. Since then, the BGE and the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit (BMU) have examined further handling of the Gorleben mine in Lower Saxony. Now the BMU has decided to engage the BGE to decommission the mine.

Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary at the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit (BMU):

"The site selection procedure is designed to find the final repository site that offers the best possible safety. It has already become clear that the Gorleben salt mine is not that site. Since the publication of the BGR interim report, it has been scientifically proven that there are many geologically more suitable sites. The Gorleben repository chapter will be closed as of today. I hope that the wounds caused by the decades-long dispute over Gorleben in the Wendland region can now begin to heal. For three decades, Gorleben represented a major social conflict in Germany. With regard to the search for a final repository site, politicians have learned from this conflict: in the end, the reasons why a certain site was chosen need to be clearly understandable."

Olaf Lies, Minister for the Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection in Lower Saxony:

"As of today, there will be no more back doors. That is the message, and it is an enormously important sign for the entire region that we’re sending out today. Because the last decades were characterized, above all, by the resistance against a nuclear repository in Gorleben, which placed a huge burden on the population; a necessary fight against a wrong political decision, which has now come to a positive end. As of today, "Gorleben" is finally a thing of the past. Today, it is finally time to leave this past behind and to jointly develop and implement concepts for the future of the Wendland. For this region has an enormous potential, not only in terms of its natural landscape and tourism, but also for the climate and energy turnaround."

Wolfram König, President of the Bundesamt für die Sicherheit der Nuklearen Entsorgung (Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management):

"The Gorleben repository is history – but the task of solving the repository issue still remains. We still need to write the final chapter of phasing out this high-risk technology together. It will be about good science, transparency, participation and the willingness to take responsibility."

Stefan Studt, Chairman of the Management Board of the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH (BGE):

"The BGE is pleased to be awarded the contract to close the Gorleben mine. This brings to an end a chapter that was painful also for the workforce of our predecessor company. Those were stormy times, both for our colleagues as well as many stakeholders in the region.

The BGE benefits from work that was already done here, both in the mines and in terms of site selection. Exploration technologies, for example, have been tested here, which can be further developed in the years to come. The construction of the mine itself was also challenging. Our colleagues’ experience is now paying off, for example, in the construction of the Konrad repository."

The Gorleben mine is now to be decommissioned and the salt dump to be brought underground again in the process. It is now up to the BGE to continue planning the closure.

Further information

The site selection procedure for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste has been ongoing since 2017. The process is regulated by the Site Selection Act (Standortauswahl-Gesetz): the potential repository areas are investigated in increasing detail, and the comparative selection is further narrowed down in three successive phases.

The first phase is divided into two parts to allow for early public participation. On September 28, 2020, the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE) published its interim report “Sub-Areas”, naming in it the sub-areas for which preliminary safety investigations will be carried out for the first time during the second step of the first phase of the site selection procedure.

In this first step, the Gorleben salt dome was eliminated from the site selection procedure on the basis of the geological requirements and criteria as determined by the law: After applying all minimum requirements and exclusion criteria, 139 salt domes remained eligible initially; after the application of the relevant geoscientific assessment criteria, the Gorleben salt dome and 78 other salt domes were excluded from the site selection procedure. BGE is currently preparing further investigation of the 90 sub-areas, 60 of which are salt domes.

The BMU is the ministry responsible for final disposal issues and the representative of the Federal Government as the sole shareholder of the BGE. BASE supervises the site selection procedure. The BGE conducts the site selection procedure and is the operator of the Gorleben mine in Lower Saxony. The NMU is the ministry responsible for nuclear issues at Länder level.

Further information on the site selection procedure, the designation of the sub-areas as well as public participation can be found on the website www.endlagersuche-infoplattform.de of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) and on the website www.bge.de of the BGE.