Interim storage facility sites
There are 16 interim storage facilities for radioactive waste in Germany. The centralised interim storage facilities are located in Gorleben and Ahaus. More detailed information on the individual interim storage facilities can be found on our pages on the respective interim storage facility sites.
Centralised and decentralised interim storage facilities
In Germany, there are two types of interim storage facility: centralised and decentralised. The decentralised interim storage facilities are also referred to as on-site interim storage facilities because they are located directly on the premises of the nuclear power plants. In addition to the centralised interim storage facilities at Gorleben and Ahaus and the twelve on-site interim storage facilities, the interim storage facilities at Jülich and Lubmin occupy a special position. Although, like the decentralised storage facilities, they are located in the immediate vicinity of a nuclear power plant, they were not built by an energy utility, and were constructed before 2000.
Unlike the other nuclear power plant sites, there is no interim storage facility for high- level radioactive waste at Obrigheim. The waste in the form of spent fuel elements was transported to the Neckarwestheim interim storage facility near the site in 2017.
Since 2020, almost all German interim storage facilities have been operated by the BGZ Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung (company for interim storage). The exceptions are the Interim Storage Facility North near Lubmin, the Brunsbüttel Interim Storage Facility and the Jülich Interim Storage Facility. Information on the operators and capacity utilisation of the interim storage facilities can be found on the respective websites.
