By announcing his unrestricted order to continue keeping nuclear fuel at the storage facility at the nuclear power station in Brunsbüttel, the Schleswig-Holstein Environment Minister has expressed his hope that “this temporary rule will now be replaced by a long-term licence as quickly as possible” from the licensing authority BASE and the store operator. Lisa Ahlers, the spokesperson for the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management, issued the following comment:

“Operators of nuclear equipment must submit durable and verifiable documents reflecting the latest science and technology without any conditions attached in order to obtain a licence in line with the Atomic Energy Act. The nuclear authority in the Environment Ministry in Kiel has been extensively informed about documents, which are unfortunately still missing, and have not been made available by the applicant, Kernkraftwerk Brunsbüttel GmbH & Co. oHG, in its submission to the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management, which is responsible for issuing the licence. These documents include those on CASTOR containers and the planned incident unit for high- level radioactive waste, which will be located very close to the storage site. An acceleration of the process, which is also in the interests of the federal authority, could be achieved if the Environment Minister exercised his regulatory powers over the applicant, Kernkraftwerk Brunsbüttel GmbH & Co. oHG, and obliged the company to present the complete application documents in the very near future. The Environment Minister in Schleswig-Holstein reveals a remarkable understanding of the necessary safety evidence with his public justification for an unlimited supervisory order for the storage site at Brunsbüttel and the associated request directed at the Federal Office to now replace ‘the temporary rule with a long-term licence as quickly as possible’.”

No storage licence exists yet for the storage facility at Brunsbüttel. The previously valid licence expired as the result of a decision by the Federal Administrative Court on 8 January 2015. The legal basis for the current storage of spent fuel elements is an order by the nuclear supervisory body in the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein, the Ministry for Energy, Agriculture, the Environment, Nature and Digitalisation. This ministry extended the order without naming a time limit on 17 January 2020. Kernkraftwerk Brunsbüttel GmbH & Co. oHG, a subsidiary of the energy supply company, Vattenfall, applied for a new licence on 16 November 2015.

Safety evidence still missing

Crucial safety evidence is still missing in order to meet the licence conditions for the storage facility. This includes, for example, supporting documents for CASTOR containers. The environmental impact assessment represents a key element in the licencing procedure. The applicant must use this to prove how its proposal could affect the environment. An environmental impact assessment can only be completed if, for example, it is possible to assess questions regarding the effects of an incident caused by facilities in the vicinity. In the case of the storage site that has been applied for at Brunsbüttel, this particularly involves the unit for handling and storing natural gas that has been liquefied at low temperatures (the LNG Terminal).

The applicant, which has to submit all the required evidence with the necessary details in order to conclude the procedure quickly, largely determines when the licencing procedure can be concluded. Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung mbH (the Company for Interim Storage) and KKB (Brunsbüttel nuclear power station) have been the applicants in the new licencing procedure for storing high- level radioactive waste at the site in Brunsbüttel since 1 January 2019. BGZ has joined the process in formal terms. However, the procedure is still being continued by KKB and the responsibility still lies with KKB.

Background: ruling by the Higher Administrative Court in Schleswig

The Higher Administrative Court in Schleswig cancelled the storage licence issued in 2003 through its ruling dated 19 June 2013. The ruling became legally binding when it was confirmed by the Federal Administrative Court on 8 January 2015. None of the court decisions mentioned here were issued because safety shortfalls were found. The courts did not express an opinion about the issue of the actual safety of the storage site (for example, against terrorist attacks). The court criticised the fact that this issue had not been adequately examined in the licencing procedure. It is true that the licencing authority at the time, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, made clear during the court proceedings that it had extensively tested all the aspects, particularly the effects of a deliberate aircraft crash. However, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection was prohibited from disclosing the documents that it had used in the procedure to draw its conclusions.