The Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) has commissioned the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (Association for Plant and Reactor Safety, GRS) to carry out a preliminary safety analysis for Gorleben and summarise all available information on the salt dome and the results of exploration activities to date. The main goal of the project is to develop a clearly documented forecast, on the basis of existing information, of whether the Gorleben site can comply with the new safety requirements for the final disposal of heat-generating, radioactive waste. Interim results and reports will be made available to the interested public on the websites of the BMU, the GRS and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS). Moreover, the BfS will provide extensive coverage of the ongoing preliminary safety analysis and actively inform the public on further steps to be taken at Gorleben.
Besides the GRS, a number of renowned institutions with expertise and knowledge on the Gorleben site have agreed to contribute to the preliminary safety analysis: the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), DBE Technology, the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal (INE) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Institute for Rock Mechanics (IfG) in Leipzig. Noted scientists from RWTH Aachen University, such as Prof. Dr. Paul Burgwinkel, Prof. Dr. Peter Kukla, Prof. Dr. Janos Urai, and Prof. Dr. Bruno Thomauske as a sub-contractor, will also be involved in the project. Prof. Thomauske used to be responsible for the Gorleben project for several years when he held an executive position at the BfS, and is thus very familiar with all aspects relevant to the site.
External monitoring and evaluation of the work by the Institute of Disposal Research at Claustahl University of Technology will provide for quality assurance. The involvement of many different scientists and institutes in the project managed by the GRS ensures a qualified and scientifically sound analysis of the current knowledge on the Gorleben salt dome.
The preliminary safety analysis will be peer-reviewed by international experts to make sure that international standards and the state of the art in science and technology are being respected. The preliminary safety analysis will serve as a basis for planning further exploration. Only when the exploration process – whose outcome is entirely open – has been concluded and if the potential suitability of the salt dome has been established would the licensing authority in Lower Saxony start a planning approval procedure to review whether a license can be issued under nuclear energy legislation.
The focus of the preliminary safety analysis will be on the question of long-term safety, i.e. it must be demonstrated in a transparent way whether the site is suited for safe final disposal at all, and if so, under which conditions. Moreover, an optimised final disposal concept will be developed, taking into account operational safety, and the future need for additional examination and exploration will be assessed. The preliminary safety analysis is expected to be concluded by the end of 2012.