28 Aug (NucNet): BGE, Germany’s state-owned radioactive waste disposal company, is to cooperate with the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) on the selection process for a national deep geologic repository site, BGE said.
According to a statement, BGE and BGR, which provides scientific advice to the government, will also cooperate on the management of existing waste repositories, including the Asse, Konrad and Morsleben sites.
The agreement will remain valid until the final repository site selection process is complete, BGE said.
Under the agreement BGR will carry out R&D on behalf of BGE, the statement said.
The Gorleben salt mine in Lower Saxony, northern Germany, has been under investigation as a potential final repository site.
A moratorium on the evaluation of Gorleben was introduced in 2000 by a former Social Democrat and Green Party administration, but ended in 2010 and exploration at the site was restarted.
However, work was discontinued again at the end of 2012 to allow for a political compromise on site selection and then ended in July 2013. The site is being kept open, but secured, and Gorleben will not be excluded from any new site selection process.
BGE was set up in 2016 and is responsible for finding possible radioactive waste disposal sites in addition to the existing interim facility at Gorleben.
