The Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE) has requested that the Lower Saxony Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, which is the competent authority in this matter, launch a regional planning procedure for the retrieval of radioactive waste from the Asse II mine. With its “Regional Planning Announcement”, the BGE has presented an initial assessment of the regional significance of the project as a whole. Also included in the document are proposals regarding the scope of investigation for the environmental impact assessment (EIP) and the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) compatibility assessment. The planned future Shaft 5 is located within the Asse SAC and belongs to the Natura 2000 areas, which have been registered with the European Union as being particularly worthy of attention.
Why Shaft 5 is to be built to the east of the facility
In the Regional Planning Announcement, the BGE once again describes the overall retrieval project by reference to the Planning Announcement and above all to the retrieval plan that has existed since 2020. The plans place Shaft 5 about 250 metres east of the existing site. In light of the exploratory findings regarding the geological structure of the overburden and of the Asse salt dome, the current preferred location for Shaft 5 is considered to be the best possible site. Only slight changes are possible during further planning.
“The geology doesn’t allow for almost any other assessment. At the same time, ‘Lex Asse’ calls for the waste to be retrieved without delay. We therefore consider this interference with the natural world to be unavoidable,” says Thomas Lautsch, Technical Managing Director of the BGE. The BGE also considers its proposed location for the waste treatment plant, buffer storage facility and interim storage facility for recovered waste to be the best site when it comes to protecting the health of the population and the workforce. As the waste brought out of the mine will be neither fully characterised nor ready for transport, it will be essential to carry out
characterisation and packaging in a manner suitable for storage (conditioning) in the vicinity of the site. Only the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste could also be stored elsewhere before being transported to a repository for this waste. As planning and licence applications do not create irrevocable facts, the BGE’s approach corresponds to the understanding obtained through the consideration process. The BGE will participate in the broader discussion regarding the location of the interim storage facility.
What is the scale of interference with the natural world and the landscape?
The BGE is working on the assumption that it is impossible to rule out a considerable impact on the environment due to the retrieval process. The expansion of the site and the construction of Shaft 5, the waste treatment plant, and the interim storage facility will require an area of 16 hectares, including two to three hectares of forest that would have to be cleared on the site of Shaft 5 and the connection between Shaft 5 and the waste treatment plant for the purposes of retrieval. The BGE therefore plans to compile an environmental impact assessment (EIP) report for the regional planning procedure. As part of the licencing procedure, this assessment and the corresponding EIP report are used to assess whether and to what extent an environmental impact can be expected as a result of the project. It is to this end that the BGE proposes the scope of investigation in the Regional Planning Announcement. The BGE’s proposal is that, above all, the 500 metres around the extended site be considered as one investigation area and additionally that the impacts be examined in a 5 km radius around the facility. Among other things, this examination would take account of protected assets including humans, animals, plants and biodiversity as well as soil, water, air and cultural heritage.
The retrieval of the radioactive waste will be accompanied by an expansion of the site. In the area of Shaft 5, the process will also use sections of the “Asse” Special Area of Conservation, and further construction measures will take place directly in conservation areas or in their immediate vicinity. An SAC compatibility assessment will investigate whether the planned project will have effects that could considerably impair key elements of the conservation objectives of the Asse SAC.
The Regional Planning Announcement can be accessed here (German only).
About the BGE
The BGE is a federally owned company within the portfolio of the Federal Environment Ministry. On 25 April 2017, the BGE assumed responsibility from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection as the operator of the Asse II mine and the Konrad and Morsleben repositories. Its other tasks include searching for a repository site for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste produced in Germany on the basis of the Repository Site Selection Act, which entered into force in May 2017. The managing directors are Stefan Studt (Chair), Steffen Kanitz (Deputy Chair) and Dr Thomas Lautsch (Technical Managing Director).