Clarification of technical and legal questions regarding the disposal of contaminated agricultural products after nuclear incidents causing significant radioactive consequences

Severe accidents in nuclear power plants can lead to large-scale contamination of the environment with radioactive substances and result in large quantities of contaminated agricultural products becoming unusable for the market. It is then necessary to treat and dispose of large quantities of contaminated agricultural products. Possible disposal methods are

• Incineration of plant and animal products,
• landfill,
• spreading of contaminated organic materials,
• Disposal in rendering plants,
• Dumping of contaminated liquids,
• composting,
• ploughing under,
• burial of animal carcasses and
• Biological treatment.

The technical and legal issues involved in disposing of the potential quantities in the event of such an incident have not yet been fully clarified. As part of the project, technical questions will be clarified and, based on this, an initial draft for an emergency ordinance will be formulated. Such an emergency ordinance would then come into force in the event of an incident in order to provide a legal basis for the necessary disposal measures. The UR&G department is primarily involved in the project, as well as HGN Hydrogeologie GmbH as a subcontractor for agricultural issues.