No. 1/19 – Repository Site Selection Act is fit for practice

“The Repository Site Selection Act is proving its worth in practice”, said Steffen Kanitz, Deputy Chair of the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE), at noon today in the environmental committee. The legal basis for the search for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste “a well thought-out basis for action for the task of generations”, he continued. The Repository Site Selection Act (StandAG) reflects the complex task and offers the opportunity to increase confidence in the selection process.

Steffen Kanitz gave a first overview of the status of the site search at a public hearing of the Environmental Committee. He focused on the legal framework that the legislator has set for the selection process. However, he pointed out that the absence of a Geological Data Act (GeolDG) was problematic for transparency when designating sub-areas in the first phase of the procedure. This is because the BGE must use the geodata to apply the exclusion criteria, the minimum requirements, and the geological consideration criteria in a transparent manner. “The transparency requirement enshrined in the StandAG is not necessarily comparable to the transparency requirement applicable to other federal tasks”, he says.

Stefan Studt, Chairman of the BGE Management Board adds: “The search for the safest site for high-level radioactive waste for one million years is a task that also makes you a little humble”. The BGE is pleased that “many experienced, young, skilled, and highly motivated scientists have set to work in the newly established Repository Site Selection Division”.

The complete written statement at the public hearing in the Environmental Committee of the German federal parliament “Status and problems of Phase 1 in the repository search” by Steffen Kanitz can be found as a PDF here.