BGE reveals current status of repository search

On 3 November 2025, the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE) is publishing an updated work status regarding the search for a site for a repository for high-level radioactive waste. New assessments by BGE experts in relation to 29 of the 90 sub-areas will be available at www.bge.de/navigator from 3 p.m. onwards. This interactive map application allows the public to access detailed information on whether, following assessment by the BGE, an area is still being considered for the final storage of Germany’s high-level radioactive waste or whether it will not be investigated further.
 

Regarding the publication, Iris Graffunder, Chair of the BGE Management Board, said: “We’re keeping our word and publishing our current work statuses, as we did last year. This allows everyone to see that progress is being made in the repository search and what the current situation is in their region.” The BGE previously published a work status in 2024, and another publication is planned for 2026. At the end of 2027, the BGE then intends to propose a few siting regions for surface exploration. The suitability of these regions will then be further investigated on site using geoscientific measurement techniques such as sound waves in the subsurface (3D seismic surveys) and boreholes.

A good quarter of Germany is still being processed

With the sub-area areas published in 2020, just over half of Germany was classified as requiring further assessment. With the 2025 work status, the BGE has classified a total of 53% of the sub-areas as unsuitable or poorly suited based on safety-related criteria. This means that around a quarter of German territory is still being processed. That includes 47% of the sub-areas, some of which overlap.

The published work status reflects assessments of sub-areas throughout the territory of Germany. A detailed list of the sub-areas included in this year’s work status is provided in the table in the annex.

Regarding the publication, Lisa Seidel, Head of Site Selection at the BGE, explains: “The work status sets out parts of sub-areas that have already undergone one or two of the four assessment steps for evaluating safety. The orange and yellow areas did not pass the first two assessment steps of the preliminary safety analyses and are unsuitable (orange) or poorly suited (yellow) for use as repository sites. Moreover, we’re responding to a desire from the general public for further differentiation of the remaining areas in terms of progress in their processing. The areas shown in turquoise indicate where the first two assessment steps of the preliminary safety analyses have been completed and the more in-depth safety-oriented assessment is beginning. The areas shown in grey are still at the start of the assessment process but are also expected to have completed the first two assessment steps by mid-2026, meaning there will no longer be any grey areas in the country.”

The published work status includes assessments for sub-areas throughout Germany, with southern Germany currently further along in the process than northern Germany. This is immediately apparent from the numerous grey areas still visible in the north. In fact, for the first time, the map also includes assessments of 14 salt domes in Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein, but these are much smaller in area than the sub-areas in southern Germany, and the colouring is therefore not as striking. The order in which the sub-areas are processed follows a project plan that is based on the premise of conducting the preliminary safety analyses in a technically sound and timely manner. The key factors during processing are the availability of the necessary data and the corresponding establishment of principles for evaluating the development and application of safety-related criteria. Geographical distribution is not a factor in the processing of sub-areas for the BGE.

The BGE is keen to point out that the published work statuses do not yet represent binding results. According to the law, the narrowing down of sub-areas to siting regions can only be carried out by legislators at the end of Phase I. At the end of 2027, the BGE plans to propose siting regions for surface exploration. This proposal will then be reviewed by the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE), which will involve the scientific community and the public. The decision on the siting regions will ultimately be made by parliament.

Der veröffentlichte Arbeitsstand trifft Einschätzungen zu Teilgebieten im gesamten Bundesgebiet. Eine detaillierte Auflistung der im diesjährigen Arbeitsstand enthaltenen Teilgebiete enthält die beigefügte Tabelle (PDF, 419 KB, nicht barrierefrei). (PDF, 0,41MB)