Gundremmingen interim storage facility - Court reaffirms lawfulness of licence

Coat of arms of the Bavarian Administrative Court Source: picture alliance / SZ Photo | Florian Peljak

The Bavarian Administrative Court rejected a complaint filed by five residents against the Gundremmingen interim storage facility today. According to the court, the storage of nuclear fuel is safe for the licensed storage period. The licence against which the plaintiffs had appealed had been granted by the responsible Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) on 19 December 2003 after careful examination of the safety requirements. Complaints by local residents, including some of the current plaintiffs, had already been dismissed by the Bavarian Administrative Court in 2006.

The aim of the lawsuit the Bavarian Administrative Court now had to rule on was to oblige the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management to cancel the licence for the interim storage facility. "By dismissing the case, the court has made clear that even 20 years after the licence was granted, there are no doubts about the existence of the high safety standards applicable under nuclear law," says BASE President Christian Kühn.

BASE will now evaluate the written judgement and, if necessary, adopt any recommendations contained therein for its future work.

127 containers at the Gundremmingen interim storage facility

The Gundremmingen interim storage facility is located on the site of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant, which ceased operations with the shutdown of Unit C on 31 December 2021.

The interim storage facility began operations in 2006 with the emplacement of the first CASTOR V/52 cask. The interim storage facility has been operated by the government-owned BGZ Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung mbH since January 2019. The licence for the interim storage facility was granted on 19 December 2003. It is limited to 40 years, commencing with the first storage of casks in 2006 and therefore valid until 2046.

An application for and approval of 192 cask spaces for the storage of high-level radioactive waste was submitted for the interim storage facility. Due to the accelerated end of nuclear energy utilisation, it is expected that only 177 cask spaces will be required. There are currently 127 casks with irradiated fuel elements stored at the interim storage facility.