Statement given to the Commission to Review Funding of Nuclear Phase-Out

Wolfram König, President of Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management

Statement given to the Commission to Review Funding of Nuclear Phase-Out

In 1960, the first power reactor was commissioned in Germany. 16 years later, radioactive waste management was regulated in the 4th Amendment to the Atomic Energy Act. Since it became ef-fective in1977, radioactive waste disposal has thus been taken out of the immediate responsibility of the nuclear power plant operators for radioactive waste management and has become a governmental task. At first the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) was tasked with disposal. In 1989, the task was transferred to the newly founded Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS). Since 1999 I have been leading the BfS which is also responsible for the approval of transport and storage casks and the licensing of interim storage facilities for high-level radioactive wastes, in connection with the tasks of the KFK.

The task of the BfS as so-called project promoter comprises the construction, operation and safe decommissioning of the four facilities for the storage of radioactive waste in deep geological for-mations so far existing in the Federal Republic of Germany and the implementation of a selection procedure for a repository in particular for high-level radioactive wastes provided for in the Reposi-tory Site Selection Act (StandAG). For the operational business the BfS may use the services of third parties. For the Asse mine, this has been the federally owned Asse-GmbH since 2009 and for the other three mines the DBE mbH. The DBE was founded in 1979 as indirect state-owned enterprise. It has been gradually privatised since the 1980s; its major part belongs now to the utilities.

With the two nuclear waste repositories of Morsleben and Asse II, the Konrad repository for low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste that is currently being converted, and the Gorleben mine which is kept open, comprehensive experiences have been gained in Germany as to what ways are possible or impossible for a safe disposal in deep geological formations.

From my experiences as operator, I draw the following conclusions:

1. The funding of disposal must be guaranteed over the entire cycle until the facility has been sealed. Funding issues must have no influence on safety standards.
2. The scientific-technical challenges for a safe disposal must be met on the basis of the state of the art of science and technology.
3. A comprehensive participation of the citizens must be an integral component of the entire process.
4. Decisions about a site and site evaluations must be based on criteria that have been developed according to a permanently comprehensible procedure prior to the start of selecting a site. It must be a tiered approach.
5. Because of the risk potential of the materials and the need for a comprehensive control, radioactive waste disposal must be and must remain a task of the public sector.
6. The current distribution of tasks relating to the construction and operation of repository between the State builder BfS and the plant management company DBE mbH, whose majority is owned by the utilities, can be explained by historical reasons. It is inefficient and fosters the distrust among the population in independent State activities that is obliged to security. I have presented a structural draft that has been adapted to today’s needs, among others, to the Commission for the Storage of High-Level Radioactive Wastes (Repository Commission).
7. The operators of the facilities are responsible for the dismantling of the nuclear power plants and the safe interim storage. The time needed for the necessary nuclear licences depends mainly on the utilities submitting documents that are appropriate for the requirements and quality-assured. Regarding the procedures where the BfS is the licensing authority, there is considerable room for improvement on the side of the utilities.