Jürgen Korth is the new Technical Managing Director of the BGE

Jürgen Korth takes over as Technical Managing Director of the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE) on 1 July 2025. The 59-year-old was most recently Director of Technical Services at the mining company MIBRAG in Saxony-Anhalt. Korth is deeply rooted in the region of southern Lower Saxony. From 2003 to 2012, he was initially works manager and then, from 2005, Technical Managing Director of the Peiner Träger steelworks. He is a graduate engineer, having studied metallurgy and materials engineering in Aachen. 

Korth succeeds Dr Thomas Lautsch

Korth replaces Dr Thomas Lautsch, who is leaving the BGE after 10 years. The BGE would like to thank Dr Lautsch for his passion, hard work and successful efforts to drive innovation. The Technical Managing Director of the BGE is responsible for the construction of the Konrad repository, the Asse II mine, the decommissioning of the Morsleben repository and the dismantling of the Gorleben mine, as well as for the cross-sectional Technical Department, which pools areas such as geoinformation and mining engineering.

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, who took over as Chair of the BGE Supervisory Board on 24 June 2025, is looking forward to working with Korth: “In Jürgen Korth, the Supervisory Board has gained an experienced manager for the management board of the BGE. I look forward to working with him and wish him all the best in his new role. I’d like to thank Dr Thomas Lautsch for his tireless commitment to driving forward the demanding technical projects of the BGE. He played a key role in making the BGE a reliable partner when it comes to the challenging task of the final disposal of radioactive waste.”

Jürgen Korth will take over the management of the BGE together with the Chair of the Management Board, Iris Graffunder, and Managing Director and Labour Director Marlis Koop. Graffunder says: “I’m looking forward to working with an engineer with construction site and project experience. I’m sure that, together, we’ll make further progress with our repository projects and project management at our major construction sites.”

Korth says: “I look forward to working in a team with Iris Graffunder, Marlis Koop and all of my other colleagues to further develop the BGE into a modern company with a view to mastering the challenging tasks ahead. I’m particularly looking forward to leading the Konrad repository out of the construction phase and into the commissioning phase.”

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.