BGE submits first licence application for retrieval

On 30 June 2025, the BGE submitted the first licence application pursuant to section 9 of the Atomic Energy Act (AtG) for the retrieval of radioactive waste from the Asse II mine to the Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection of the State of Lower Saxony. The first licence application relates to what is known as Application Complex I, which envisages constructing the Asse 5 retrieval shaft and connecting it to the existing mine via a retrieval mine. The ventilation will then be rearranged. Fresh air will be drawn into the mine via the Asse 2 shaft and extracted again via the Asse 5 shaft. This also applies to the discharge of radioactive substances with the exhaust air, which has already been authorised for the current mine operation and will then be emitted via the new exhaust air structure and the 80 m chimney. “The BGE has kept its word by submitting the first application this year and is now embarking on the licensing procedures for retrieval,” says Iris Graffunder, Chair of the BGE Management Board. At the same time, it should be noted that the application is not yet complete. The project description that has now been submitted will be supplemented in the coming years by specific licensing, inspection and information document (PDF, 5,22MB)s. The period pursuant to section 57b of the Atomic Energy Act, which states that decisions on applications must be made within six months, therefore does not yet begin with the documents that have now been submitted.

The “Application for the issuing of a first change approval for the handling of nuclear fuel for the retrieval of radioactive waste from the Asse II mine” (PDF, 0,58MB)and the information document (PDF, 5,22MB) are available to download from our website.

Expansion of the site

Among other things, the application envisages extending the existing site to the east to include the section for the Asse 5 shaft. The new section will cover around 6 hectares. The forest areas in the construction area will be cleared when earthworks and civil engineering works are imminent. “The BGE would also like to avoid such an intervention, but it is necessary in order to implement retrieval,” says Graffunder. Accordingly, the planned interventions in the special area of conservation must take place.

Radiation protection monitoring must be reorganised

Due to the change in the discharge of radioactive substances via the Asse 5 shaft, it is also necessary to adapt the emission and immission monitoring. To this end, an emission monitoring system is to be installed at the exhaust air structure of the Asse 5 shaft, and the immission monitoring system is to be adapted to the new discharge location. “By adapting the existing monitoring systems, we can continue to precisely detect whether and which radioactive substances are being emitted,” explains Graffunder. Even if increased discharges of radioactive substances are to be expected during retrieval of the waste, the legal requirements and limit values will be safely complied with. “Otherwise, retrieval would not be eligible for licensing at all,” adds Graffunder.

Authorisations in other areas of law are to be pooled

According to Lex Asse, the BGE is permitted to pool authorisations from other areas of law within the licensing procedure under nuclear law. The BGE is making use of this and will, in the course of the project, pool authorisations in accordance with the Federal Mining Act, the Lower Saxony Building Code, the Federal Nature Conservation Act and the Federal and Lower Saxony State Forest Act. The project is subject to an EIA – in other words, there will be an environmental impact assessment with public participation. The exemption from prohibitions in the landscape conservation areas known as “Asse” and “Asse, Klein Vahlberger Buchen and neighbouring landscape features” is also to be pooled within the procedure.

About the BGE

The BGE is responsible for proposing the site for a repository for high-level radioactive waste that offers the best possible safety for one million years. It is also constructing the Konrad repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in Salzgitter. The BGE is decommissioning the Morsleben repository, planning the decommissioning of the Asse II mine following retrieval of the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste, and closing the Gorleben mine.