Making the final disposal of radioactive waste safe and transparent

There is no alternative to the final disposal of high-level radioactive waste in deep geological formations that is safe and ethical in the long term. Today, there is consensus on this in research and broad sections of the public. Safe final disposal is necessary in order to keep the radiation emitted by nuclear waste out of the biosphere for thousands of years.

In the search for a suitable repository site, it is essential to consider not only geoscientific and technical but also social aspects. Repository selection projects can fail due to resistance from the local population, as examples from Germany and other countries show: at Wellenberg in Switzerland, public protests against the construction of a repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste led to two cantonal referendums; the plans were finally shelved as a result of political pressure. A similar situation arose in Gorleben in Germany. To date, no repository for high-level radioactive waste has come into operation anywhere in the world.

The early involvement of the public and a transparent, stepwise approach are therefore key features of a consensus-oriented process, as recommended, for example, by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC). In Germany, the Repository Site Selection Act (Standortauswahlgesetz – StandAG) goes as far as to stipulate that the site selection decision should be based on a broad social consensus, with the public actively involved in the process.