The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE)

• The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) performs regulatory, licensing and supervisory tasks when it comes to disposing of and storing, handling and transporting high-level radioactive waste.
• The BASE is regulating the site selection procedure for a disposal site for radioactive waste and is monitoring the completion of the process. ´
• The BASE is organising public participation in the search for a site.
• The office has specialist expertise and provides support for the supervisory body, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, with regard to nuclear safety.
• The office is performing and coordinating research in its areas of responsibility.
• The BASE was established in 2014 and its development has been continuing since 2016.

The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) performs regulatory, licensing and supervisory tasks for the German government when it comes to disposing of and storing, handling and transporting high-level radioactive waste. The BASE supports and advises the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety on issues related to nuclear disposal and nuclear safety. It is performing and coordinating research in its subject fields.

Growing tasks in an expanding public authority

The central challenges faced by the BASE not only include the upcoming, demanding, socio-political tasks – like the search for a disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. The process of developing the still young public authority has been purposefully continuing since the summer of 2016.

The BASE took over the specialist personnel from two departments at what was previously the responsible body, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), at the beginning of 2017: the department for licensing procedures for transporting and storing nuclear waste as well as for nuclear safety. The other departments needed to search for a new disposal site for radioactive waste, for research and for administration have been established from scratch. The BASE is gradually creating working structures and is continuing to hire more specialist personnel.  

While this development work is continuing, the BASE has already been entrusted with statutory tasks – particularly when the amended Site Selection Act became law in May 2017. If necessary, the BASE established interdisciplinary working groups to meet the requirements of the law immediately after it took effect. This applies to Securing potential sites, according to Section 21, for example, or establishing the information platform on the Internet, according to Section 6 of the law. Basic access to the information platform was provided on the day when the Act became law. Initial adjustments were made at the end of 2017 and they will be gradually developed and improved during the further course of the process.

The BASE’s tasks

The Atomic Energy Act describes and stipulates the BASE’s tasks. The BASE

• regulates the site selection procedure during the search for a disposal site for high-level radioactive waste and organises the participation of the general public,
• is responsible for procedures in mining and water law and the
  Atomic Energy Act when disposing of radioactive waste,
• exercises the nuclear supervision of disposal sites for radioactive waste in law,
• examines applications for licences under the Atomic Energy Act for storage sites and transporting nuclear fuels,
• is responsible for the national storage of nuclear fuels; (it also issues rulings according to Section 5 of the Atomic Energy Act, Paragraph 7 Sentence 1),
• makes available its expertise for issues related to nuclear safety,
• conducts and organises research in these areas.  

Site selection procedure: checks, public participation and state supervision

The BASE is coordinating, checking and supervising the search for a disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. It is also responsible for creating the basic principles and general conditions for public participation. The tasks are laid down in the Site Selection Act (StandAG) and comprise the following:

• specifying exploration programmes for overground and underground investigation using suggestions made by Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH (BGE or the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal),
• conducting checks on whether the site selection procedure and the exploration work meet the criteria and requirements of the Site Selection Act,
• informing the general public about the state of the search procedure,
• organising and coordinating the participation procedure in the search for the site,  
• checking mining projects together with the federal states to safeguard possible suitable disposal sites,
• suggesting the site for a disposal facility for high-level radioactive waste.

Procedures in mining and water law and the Atomic Energy Act related to nuclear disposal

The BASE is responsible for approval procedures in mining and water law and the Atomic Energy Act and permits for disposing of radioactive waste. These tasks have been newly established at a federal level. Individual rules have been created for disposal projects that already exist, for which various federal states were responsible in the past. The tasks related to the Konrad mine will not pass from the state of Lower Saxony to the federal government until a licence to start operating the disposal site has been issued. In the case of the Asse mine, the responsibilities will remain with the state of Lower Saxony.

Supervision of disposal sites for radioactive waste in the Atomic Energy Act

The BASE is responsible for supervising and checking disposal sites. This currently involves:

• the Morsleben disposal site,
• Asse II mine,
• Konrad mine, which is being converted into the first disposal site approved under the Atomic Energy Act for low-level and medium-level radioactive waste.

The BASE is examining whether the safety rules stipulated in the Atomic Energy Act are met when sites are constructed, operated and completely decommissioned. The task of providing supervision at a federal level has been newly established in the Atomic Energy Act. Disposal sites are also being continually supervised on the basis of other statutory regulations. This particularly includes supervision in mining law. The individual federal states are continuing to perform these tasks.  

Approving transportation and storage

The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management is responsible for licensing the following according to nuclear law:

• transporting spent fuel elements from operations at nuclear power stations or radioactive waste products from reprocessing (so-called CASTOR transport operations),
• transporting major sources of radioactivity (not only fuel rods, but radioactive materials that exceed a certain level of activity) and
• storing high-level radioactive waste.

Nuclear safety

According to the law, the last nuclear power stations in Germany are due to go offline in 2022 at the latest. Until then and during the ongoing course of decommissioning the facilities, the safety culture must be maintained at a high level and further developed. The experts at the BASE are members of many safety committees at a national and international level and advise the German government. The BASE also manages a central registration centre for any incidents and occurrences at nuclear facilities on behalf of the German government.

Research

The BASE is also active academically as a federal research institute so that it is able to perform its tasks in line with the latest science and technology at all times. The office initiates and supports research projects in the field of nuclear disposal safety and is performing its own research. The field of responsibilities and the department are still being developed.