The depot will be developed a number of kilometers south of the municipality of Hohentengen, in Baden-Württemberg, on the Upper Rhine. This was introduced by the Swiss National Cooperative for the disposal of radioactive waste (Nagra). There, the squander have to be embedded in the opal clay at a depth of various hundred meters. The area for the deposit was decided on owing to the geology. There were two other locations to choose from, also pretty near to the German border.
“The necessary confinement time is about 200,000 several years for superior-stage waste and about 30,000 several years for very low- and medium-stage squander,” states the Nagra web-site. Exclusively, it is about 9,300 cubic meters of high-action radioactive waste and 72,000 cubic meters of small and medium-amount radioactive waste. They come from what have been as soon as the five Swiss nuclear electric power plants, as perfectly as from drugs and field. Four nuclear electrical power plants are still in procedure. They do not have to have to be replaced, but they can be operated as very long as basic safety is certain. It could go as significantly as 2040.
Ultimate determination on the repository likely not prior to 2031
Nagra intends to submit a organizing software by 2024. The Bern governing administration then decides on approval and Parliament will have to approve the conclusion. In Switzerland, on the other hand, a referendum can be imposed. It likely would not take place before 2031. If the decision is not rejected, construction of the nuclear waste storage facility can start. Multi-year storage will start about 2050.
Municipalities are worried about a protected drinking water offer
The locale of the planned web page in the vicinity of the border represents a important burden for it and the surrounding communities the two in the development stage and in the procedure of the depot, said Christian Kühn, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ecosystem Ministry and member of the Bundestag. of Baden-Württemberg of the German Press Agency.
The German communities around the border are predominantly anxious with the difficulty of ingesting water supply. “We have consuming drinking water fountains everywhere you go, we have the Aare and the Rhine nearby. The situation of consuming water defense is a big concern of the population,” suggests Martin Steinebrunner of the German Coordination Business office for Swiss Deep Storage ( DKST) at the Hochrhein- Lake Constance Regional Association. It is not yet very clear wherever the packaging for ultimate storage will choose spot. The squander is at present situated in a temporary storage facility for nuclear squander in Würenlingen, about 15 kilometers south of the German municipality of Waldshut-Tiengen.
In several other countries, like Germany, the dilemma of a highly radioactive nuclear waste repository is still unanswered. The conclusion for Germany’s repository internet site will be manufactured in 2031 at the earliest.
qu / wa (dpa, rtr)
–
