BEVERUNGEN/SALZGITTER (dpa-AFX) – According to a study, nuclear waste disposal in the Konrad repository in Salzgitter would also be possible without the staging area in the border triangle of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. However, such a storage facility would certainly have advantages – also for other interim storage locations. The investigation revealed “that with suitable advance planning of the package call-off, the Konrad repository with and without a storage facility […] can be loaded,” says a study by TÜV Nord commissioned by the states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia that was presented on Wednesday.
The plan is to collect low- and medium-level radioactive waste from the interim storage facilities in the logistics center “Konrad” at the former nuclear power plant in Würgassen (Höxter district) on the Weser and then bundle it and deliver it to Salzgitter, around 120 kilometers away.
According to the study, such a staging area would reduce transport distances and times. It would also not take that long for all the garbage to be taken out of the interim storage facilities. According to a spokesman for the Federal Agency for Interim Storage (BGZ), the interim storage facilities would be waste-free ten years earlier. According to the study, the total duration of emplacement in the Konrad repository would be shorter with a supply storage facility – provided that two-shift operation and not one-shift operation were used. On the other hand, according to the study, the staff and the population in the area would be exposed to more radiation – but the value would therefore be well below the limit of annual exposure for individuals.
The two state governments see significant organizational questions unanswered and “great potential for optimization”. A spokesman for the BGZ announced that the study would now be examined. Irrespective of this, one continues to assume that a logistics center is indispensable for rapid emplacement operations in the Konrad repository./gba/DP/ngu