The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BfE) as the regulatory, supervisory and licensing authority plays a central role in guaranteeing nuclear safety when disposing of radioactive waste. Experts from the International Atomic Energy Authority underlined this during a review mission. They investigated how nuclear safety in Germany is regulated at a statutory and organisational level between 31 March and 12 April 2019. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) is in charge of the IRRS mission (Integrated Regulatory Review Service). Dr Mareike Rüffer, Head of the “Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Supervision in Law for Disposal Operations” department, managed the mission for the BfE.

Focussing on the site selection procedure for a disposal site for high-level radioactive waste

The international experts particularly asked questions about the site selection procedure for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste with great interest and with a critical outlook. It was important for the experts to discover how the BfE is exercising its role as the safety-oriented supervisory body and how it is organising public participation at the same time. Both are essential - scientific and technical tasks and also public participation. Incorporating critical questions from the population helps all those involved to repeatedly ask whether there is a need to optimise matters and at which points. Safety is the top priority in this process.

Ideas on nuclear supervision in law and maintaining skills

The review mission proposed a series of important ideas. The issues related to supervision in nuclear law for disposal site projects, e.g. Konrad, have shown that a consolidated set of rules can help increase transparency and clarity. It was also clear that maintaining skills is a central issue for the tasks needing to be completed during the coming decades. The research work being performed by the BfE is supporting this.

Background: organisational changes in Germany

New structures have emerged in Germany for the IAEA experts since their last visit in 2008 and their follow-up mission in 2011 because of organisational changes in the country. By establishing the BfE, Germany now has a nuclear supervisory body in law for the first time to handle disposal. The BfE is also monitoring and regulating the search for a disposal site for high-level radioactive waste, a process that started almost two years ago.

The IAEA report will be published in about three months

In addition to the BMU and the BfE, the nuclear supervisory bodies in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein were involved in the mission. As regards tasks, the mission mainly focused on regulation issues for nuclear power stations that are still operating and those that are being decommissioned. The IAEA will summarise its recommendations in a report. It is expected to be published in three months’ time.