Regional planning procedure for retrieval of radioactive waste from Asse II mine gets underway

The retrieval of radioactive waste from the Asse II mine in the district of Wolfenbüttel is enshrined in the Atomic Energy Act in the form of “Lex Asse”, as is the mine’s immediate decommissioning. In order to recover, characterise and condition the around 126,000 drums of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste and place them in interim storage, it is necessary to build a new shaft as well as a waste treatment plant and storage hall. The legislature has commissioned the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH (BGE) to carry out this task.

Now, the BGE has identified a site for the construction work and applied for a regional planning procedure (ROV). The State of Lower Saxony has an overriding interest and has therefore commissioned the Office for Regional Development (ArL) for Braunschweig, as the senior planning authority, to conduct this regional planning procedure.

The region is preoccupied by retrieval

Before the regional planning procedure could be initiated, the document submitted by the BGE was discussed with some 45 representatives from municipalities, the district of Wolfenbüttel, authorities and associations at a hybrid application conference on 11 July 2022. The area that the BGE has applied for as the site of works lies in the immediate vicinity of the Asse II mine and has been the subject of numerous questions, applications and notifications.

“The region has been preoccupied by the retrieval of the radioactive waste from the Asse II mine for a long time, and there is a consensus that the drums cannot remain in the former salt mine. In the forthcoming process, we will painstakingly and transparently examine whether the proposed site is suitable for the construction work required for retrieval and especially for the waste treatment plant and interim storage of the nuclear waste,” says Dr Ulrike Witt, State Commissioner for Regional Development for Braunschweig.

Retrieval/decommissioning project continues to gather speed

Jens Köhler, BGE project manager for the decommissioning of Asse, also welcomes the forthcoming regional planning procedure: “The BGE is grateful that, as of the application conference, the Office for Regional Development has been a participant in the regional planning procedure. This procedure will examine the overall project for the retrieval of radioactive waste from the Asse II mine, thereby establishing the framework within which the BGE can work as part of a total of four application complexes for retrieval. We’re pleased that the retrieval/decommissioning project is therefore continuing to gather speed.”

As the authority leading the procedure, the Office for Regional Development for Braunschweig will now evaluate the contributions from the application conference as well as the notifications received in writing. These will then provide the basis for defining the spatial and thematic scope of the examination – in other words, the area to which the procedure will relate. The BGE will also be notified of how the necessary documents are to be prepared and which expert reports are to be supplemented for the regional planning procedure.