Research on the transport and storage of high-level radioactive materials

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Safety is of paramount importance to the storage and transport of high-level radioactive materials and waste. For this reason, the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) considers both the current state of science and technology as well as research issues in this field so as to review and assess safety in the best possible way.

Safety of an extended interim storage

One of the focal points of BASE research is on the assessment of the safety of extended interim storage.

Current interim storage facilities were granted a license because they had demonstrated that damage precaution measures relating to the temporarily stored waste were in place. A licence for storage was granted for a period of up to 40 years. However, it can be assumed that this storage period will not be sufficient to transfer all temporarily stored waste packages to a final repository that has yet to be constructed.

BASE is examining the evidence required to ensure the safety of an extended interim storage and of removal after storage in accordance with the current state of science and technology. BASE also carries out research projects to provide further expertise for this assessment.

Verification

The respective operators are responsible for providing evidence regarding the safety of the interim storage facilities. Their focus, and thus the focus of BASE's research activities, is on questions relating to the ageing of materials in particular. This includes a careful examination of the following:

• The containers in which the waste packages are stored,
• their components, and
• the waste packages themselves.

Furthermore, questions about the long-term safety of the repository may arise from extended service lives and potential technical modifications to the waste packages. This is because changes to the waste or its containers may influence the processes in the sealed repository.

Transport of radioactive materials

The existing high level of safety in the transport of radioactive materials must be ensured and assessed continuously. Accompanying research will be initiated as part of the pursuit of the scientific and technological state of the art as well as the development of international regulations.

Disruptive acts and other third-party action

There is also a need for research regarding the protection of interim storage facilities and transports against disruptive acts and other third-party actions (sonstige Einwirkungen Dritter (SEWD)).

Research at BASE

The main topics of BASE research are described in detail in the research agenda.

Research projects currently being tendered are published on E-Vergabe, the federal government's procurement platform.

Ongoing research projects

The research projects currently underway in the area of transport/storage are listed and briefly described here (in German only).

Completed research projects

The research projects already completed in the area of transport/storage are listed and briefly described on our research project page (in German only).