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9According to the findings of the Federal Association for Final Storage, 0 areas in Germany have favorable geological conditions for a deposit of nuclear waste. The Gorleben salt dome in Lower Saxony is not included, as the interim report released Monday by the Federal Agency for Final Storage (BGE) shows. Not on the list for instability. “Therefore, the Gorleben salt dome will not be considered in the BGE’s subsequent work on the location region proposals.”
Bavaria, on the other hand, is the subject of discussion, where granite rock is generally cited as suitable for an underground nuclear waste storage facility. The BGE has listed around 90 possible locations in clay, salt, and crystalline rock formations like granite based solely on geological conditions.
Other criteria, such as settlement or development, did not influence this first step. In later phases, the selection will be further restricted in the coming years, so a decision should be made on a location by 2031. The repository should be operational in 2050.
First, the report lists all regions of Germany, “which are expected to have favorable geological conditions for the safe final storage of radioactive waste”, as required by the relevant law. That is why there are still quite a few and sometimes quite large areas.
It will only get more specific in the next few years. The so-called location regions are selected from the subareas, which are explored in more detail throughout the day. Some of them are also explored underground.
More than half of Germany is geologically fit
If the overlap of some areas is taken into account, according to the report, 54 percent of the land area in Germany is designated as a sub-zone. In addition to Bavaria, the BGE has other salt domes in Lower Saxony, as well as areas in Baden-Württemberg and much of eastern Germany on the list. The Saarland, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and parts of the Ruhr area, however, are not found in it. The Ruhr area is off the table due to the many old mines that make the area geologically unsafe.
Pre-determination of a location is far from related to this. In the months and years to come, potential locations will gradually shrink taking into account additional criteria, such as population density. However, the debate on the disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste should get under way, especially in the areas that will now be examined more closely.
Repository search had to restart
After a long period of trouble with the Gorleben Salt Dome, the search for a repository was completely restarted. Starting from a “white map”, in which each location is fundamentally possible, the possible locations are now gradually reduced according to scientific criteria.
However, in the end, politicians should make the decision about the location, based on scientific findings. Citizens, communities, and organizations can get involved in the process through various formats.
There had been a dispute over all over Gorleben, who had become a symbol of the anti-nuclear movement. Even before the report was released, some called for the salt dome to be excluded from the search for “politically burned”.
But the Bavarian state government has also caused outrage by questioning the search process and insisting that hiding in Bavaria is not appropriate. They both question the principle of the “white map”, which is only being phased out using measurable criteria.
The Greens, among others, insist on this principle, whose roots also lie in the anti-nuclear movement. “Now is the time for science to do it and it should be left to do it in peace,” said Bundestag MP Oliver Krischer. In Gorleben’s case, there was primarily a political decision. In the 1970s it was decided to install a repository there. That is why “a region almost completely rebelled.”
