No.08/18 – The BGE signs partnership agreement with French waste management agency Andra

13 July 2018

Exchange of information to be promoted

On Thursday, 28 June 2018, Dr Ewold Seeba, Acting Chair of the Management Board of the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE) and Pierre-Marie Abadie, CEO of the French national radioactive waste management agency (Andra) signed a partnership agreement. Andra is the French waste management agency and was founded as an independent public company in 1991.

This partnership agreement contains the formal requirements for the exchange of information between the two companies and their cooperation for a period of five years with the option of extending the agreement.

By resuming the German siting procedure for high-level radioactive waste, the BGE aims to benefit from Andra’s experience with the strategies implemented in France since 1991 in preparation for the Cigeo project. Cigeo is the French project to dispose of high-level radioactive waste in a deep rock formation. In particular, the BGE is interested in the gradual development of the French project, including its organisation. Of particular interest to the BGE is the realisation of a repository project in a clay formation based on the scientific and industrial experience gained at the Bure underground laboratory in Lorraine. Equally interesting is Andra’s strategy for communication and dialogue with stakeholders for the project.

Andra, in turn, hopes to learn about the site selection process initiated in Germany under the special conditions of the final nuclear phase-out in 2011. Andra will focus on the communication and information strategy being implemented in Germany. It is interested in the constructive dialogue between the BGE and citizens on the management of radioactive waste as a collective heritage. Andra is also interested in the BGE’s experience in safely constructing, operating, and closing deep geological reservoirs in various host rock formations.

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 Dr Ewold Seeba (Acting Chair), Professor Hans-Albert Lennartz (Commercial Manager) and Dr Thomas Lautsch (Technical Manager).

Andra is a public company created by the law of 30 December 1991. Its tasks were defined by the Programme Act of 28 June 2006. Independent of radioactive waste producers, Andra is under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy, Environment and Research. Andra serves the state by finding, implementing, and guaranteeing safe management solutions for all French radioactive waste in order to protect present and future generations from the risk of this waste.