Aces-2 accompanying process

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The Asse-2 accompanying process is the joint, role-differentiated procedure of various state, political and civil society bodies with the aim of guaranteeing regional and civil society participation in the legally stipulated retrieval of radioactive waste from the former Asse II mine ( Wolfenbüttel district in Germany) and to make the process transparent. The support process is designed in particular by the Asse 2 support group (a2b). The accompanying process is financed with funds from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) .

The support process is unique in its form: government agencies that are responsible for the planning, the decisions and the implementation of the retrieval process are supported by a civil society body (Asse-2 support group) in an advisory and critical manner. As one such participation experiment, the Asse-2 accompanying process is being observed and evaluated by the Bundestag repository commission . Findings are incorporated into the participation concept for the nationwide search for a location to store highly radioactive substances.

backgrounds

Between 1967 and 1978 approx. 125,000 barrels and containers with low to medium level radioactive waste were stored in the Asse II salt mine. However, the documentation of the stored inventory is incomplete. From 1992 the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Society for Radiation Research (GSF) initiated the closure of the mine. A planned backfilling, as planned by the operator, was countered by concerns in particular from the residents, who feared groundwater contamination and increased radiation. Due to resistance from the population and regional politics, a joint declaration by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research , the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Lower Saxony Ministry for Environment and Climate Protection announced in November 2007 :

“Representatives of the regional population should be involved in the development and evaluation of the options. [...] The establishment of an accompanying group by the district or district council is jointly advocated and supported by the BMU, BMBF and NMU. "

This started the Asse-2 support process and the establishment of an Asse-2 support group.

Comparison of options

In the same press release, the decommissioning process is preceded by a comparison of options:

“By mid-2008 at the latest, a final assessment of options will be carried out on the basis of the previously examined closure measures, taking into account additional or alternative measures. The retrieval of medium-level radioactive waste is also included in the test. "

The following options were examined:

  • Relocation of nuclear waste within the mine
  • The nuclear waste remains in Asse II and the mine is backfilled
  • Retrieval of the nuclear waste from the Asse II mine

In 2010 the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) presented the results of the comparison of options. After that, retrieval is the only option that guarantees long-term safety. The corresponding recommendation of the BfS for retrieval, unless technically insurmountable obstacles such as B. an uncontrollable water ingress ("lye access"), found the necessary political support from the BMUB and from the region.

actors

Many different actors are working together on the process of retrieving Asse nuclear waste from the mine:

Asse-2 support group (a2b), consisting of voting representatives from

The Asse-2 accompanying group in the broader sense (A2B) also includes (without voting rights)

  • Scientific Working Group Options - Retrieval (AGO)
  • State institutions (Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Asse GmbH , Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Lower Saxony Environment Ministry)

Aces-2 support group (a2b)

The Asse-2 support group represents the interests of the Wolfenbüttel region and supports the process of retrieving the nuclear waste from the former Asse II mine and ultimately the closure of the mine. As such, the committee serves to ensure the transparency of the process, acts as a mouthpiece for the local population and thus participates in the process of retrieving the nuclear waste. It is also the central point of contact in the region for all ministries and authorities involved, without restricting the activities of civil society actors such as citizens' initiatives. The organization of the support group is in the hands of the Wolfenbüttel district . Joint public meetings of the a2b with the ministries and authorities involved take place around once a quarter (“A2B”).

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), the Federal Office, is responsible for the latter in the roughly quarterly joint advisory meetings of the a2b with the technical advisory working group Options - Retrieval (AGO) and the responsible government agencies ("A2B") for Radiation Protection (BfS), the Lower Saxony Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Protection (NMU), the State Mining Authority (LBEG) and Asse GmbH.

The chairperson of the Asse-2 support group is the district administrator of the Wolfenbüttel district, Christiana Steinbrügge. Your deputy is the senior building director of the district Claus Jürgen Schillmann.

aims

According to the rules of procedure (§ 5), the Asse-2 support group advocates

  • "[...] the best possible sustainable protection of people and the environment from Asse nuclear waste
  • the fastest possible and largest possible retrieval of Asse nuclear waste, provided that there are no unacceptable risks associated with it
  • the creation of transparency for the entire decommissioning process
  • active participation and information of the public
  • Objectification of the discussion and preparation of an appropriate decision "

tasks

According to the rules of procedure (§ 6), the Asse-2 support group has the task of

  • "[...] to accompany the decommissioning process of the Asse mine and to take into account the question of the interim and final storage of Asse nuclear waste in a criteria-based and responsible manner
  • To critically accompany the decision-making and implementation processes of all authorities involved, as well as the bundling of the interests of the region on the basis of common goals
  • the accompaniment of the recovery process
  • Demanding and monitoring of a self-binding time and action plan for retrieval. "

financing

The work of the Asse-2 support group and the working group Options - Retrieval (AGO) is made possible by funds from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).

Events

Since the a2b was founded, it has carried out its own public relations work, which serves transparency and offers the population the opportunity to participate. Since 2015, the event series "a2b on site" has been taking place in various places around the Asse ridge. The history of the mine, the problem of nuclear waste storage and the resulting consequences for today's handling of retrieval as well as current issues are discussed. The event is open to the public and is aimed in particular at people with little previous knowledge of the aces problem.

Aces sponsorships

Since 2013, the Asse-2 support group has recognized people as Asse sponsors who have shown their commitment to the Asse and / or who have effectively advanced the support process. There are currently four aces godparents:

  • Jörg Röhmann (former district administrator of the Wolfenbüttel district, former state secretary in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs) was appointed Asse sponsor in March 2013. As chairman of the a2b, he was committed to the retrieval of Asse nuclear waste until 2013.
  • Ursula Heinen-Esser (former Parl. State Secretary in the BMU, since 2018 Minister for the Environment, Agriculture, Nature and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia) received the award as ace godmother in September 2013, in particular for her services to the success of the “Lex Aces ".
  • Hans-Helge Jürgens was honored as an aces godfather in February 2015. He had already recognized the dangers of storing nuclear waste in the Asse in the 1970s and warned against them.
  • Horst Pitterich (Head of Waste Management at Project Management Karlsruhe) has been Asse's sponsor since May 2015. For many years he was the head and coordinator of the AGO.

successes

As a public and state-legitimized body, the Asse 2 advisory group has a strong influence on the entire process that the nuclear waste storage in Asse II entails. With regard to the process of decommissioning the Asse, the following achievements were achieved with the participation of the a2b:

  • Implementation of a settlement of options, as a result of which the retrieval was fixed
  • statutory regulation of the decommissioning of the Asse in the Atomic Energy Act (Lex Asse)
  • transparent recovery planning

In a speech given by Lower Saxony's Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection Stefan Wenzel on March 22, 2013 in the Federal Council:

“The newly created regulations in §57 b (9) of the Atomic Energy Act [...] ensure that the public is comprehensively informed about all processes and processes at Asse, thereby further improving transparency and the existing participation process. This strengthens the trust of the citizens in the entire decommissioning process. The work of the support group shows a new way for public participation in highly complex public law planning processes. "

The experiences in the Asse-2 accompanying process are evaluated by the repository commission of the Bundestag and flow into the design of the public participation in the search for a repository for high-level radioactive waste.

Problems

The composition of the Asse-2 advisory group is extremely heterogeneous and represents an attempt to bundle the spectrum of the regional public in the interests of a common interest. As a result, mayors and representatives of the Wolfenbüttel district assembly legitimized by election work together with representatives of environmental associations as well as representatives of citizens' initiatives and individuals who, for example, Some of them have been critical of the atomic and, to varying degrees, critical of the state for many years.

In the course of 2015, more and more conflicts within the a2b about roles, obligations, tasks and the relationship with the state authorities came to light, which should be dealt with from the beginning of 2016 with the help of external moderation and, if necessary, mediation.

Working group options - retrieval (AGO)

The scientific working group Options - Retrieval provides technical support to a2b. Most of the members of this group were appointed at the request of the a2b. The AGO is financed by the BMUB and organized and moderated by the project management agency Karlsruhe on its behalf.

Focus

The complex process of recovering nuclear waste from the Asse II mine requires numerous lengthy sub-projects and security tasks. These are managed by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and are critically and constructively checked as part of the Asse-2 accompanying process:

  • Recovery of the Asse nuclear waste
  • Construction of a recovery shaft (shaft 5)
  • Conditioning / storage of the recovered nuclear waste
  • drainage
  • Contingency planning

All measures that are necessary for the retrieval of Asse nuclear waste, including emergency preparedness, are being pursued in parallel, as stipulated in Lex Asse.

Retrieval

As a result of the comparison of options, it was agreed to give priority to retrieval. This goal was enshrined in law in April 2014 when the Atomic Energy Act was expanded to include Section 57b “Operation and decommissioning of the Asse II mine”, the so-called “Lex Asse”. There it says with regard to the closure of the Asse mine:

"The closure [of the mine] should take place after the radioactive waste has been retrieved."

Merely insurmountable technical obstacles, such as B. uncontrollable water ingress (caustic ingress), or safety and health-related reasons justify an alternative method of closing the ailing mine. The operator, the BfS, is responsible for the implementation of the retrieval. In principle, the process is considered technically feasible, but also very complex and tedious. In particular, radiation protection for the population and employees must be guaranteed in accordance with the rules of the Radiation Protection Ordinance. On the basis of Lex Asse, the technical preparations for retrieval (shaft 5, interim storage including buffer storage and conditioning system) are already being made in parallel to the current exploration and test drilling. There it says:

"In a licensing procedure for the retrieval of radioactive waste and for related measures, the licensing authority can, upon application, permit preparatory measures requiring authorization to begin before the permit is granted [...]."

In addition to the technical requirements, stabilization and precautionary measures to ensure safety for people and the environment must be incorporated into the repatriation planning.

The schedule for the retrieval and the acceleration potential are shown in the framework schedule. According to today's non-binding estimate by the BfS, the retrieval could begin in 2033. This estimate is based on identified acceleration potentials of a total of three years compared to the previous framework schedule, which resulted from a specialist workshop and the new framework conditions created by Lex Asse.

Shaft 5

For retrieval, a new infrastructure must be created at the mine, as the two existing shafts 2 and 4 are not sufficiently suitable for the recovery of the nuclear waste: shaft 2 has only very limited capacities and in its current form does not meet the nuclear requirements, shaft 4 is just a rescue shaft. Thus, a new recovery shaft has to be built, which is connected to the existing mine building and serves both as a transport route for the recovered nuclear waste from the mine and for ventilation.

Due to geological conditions, the location of a salvage shaft is an area 500 m east of shaft 2, which is checked for suitability by means of vertical and horizontal exploratory drilling. According to current knowledge, the suitability of the location cannot be ruled out.

Conditioning / storage

The new infrastructure also includes a buffer store and a conditioning system. After they have been recovered from the mine, the containers, which are packed as overpacks, are placed in a buffer store, where they are stored until they are conditioned. During conditioning, the waste is dried and / or compacted and packaged in an accident-proof manner. They are then taken to an interim storage facility, where the containers remain until they are transported to a repository.

While the buffer storage and the conditioning system must be built at the site of the mine due to safety-related reasons, the interim storage is also possible at other locations. The search for the interim storage location is based on a catalog of criteria developed in close cooperation with the BfS, the Asse-2 support group and the AGO.

drainage

Every day, around 12,000 liters of groundwater penetrate the ailing salt mine Asse, which is collected, pumped out and transported to another salt mine. This prevents flooding of the mine and a subsequent spread of radioactive liquor as long as the amount is manageable.

Around 20 liters of contaminated brine of unknown origin, which apparently had contact with the radioactive waste, are collected in the vicinity of the emplacement chambers. This lye is used for the production of concrete and remains in the mine. The continuous pumping is to prevent the radioactive waste in the emplacement chambers from becoming more moist than necessary. The wetter the waste, the more difficult it will be to retrieve it and the more likely it is that incalculable reactions are at risk.

Contingency planning

In the event that the water volumes can no longer be managed ("beyond design basis") and the penetration of water into the emplacement chambers can no longer be avoided, the following forms of preventive and emergency measures will be planned or implemented with the target date 2024:

  1. Measures to stabilize the mine and to protect the emplacement chambers
  2. Preparatory measures for a quick response in the event of an emergency
  3. Actions in the event of an emergency

As a central stabilization measure, cavities on the floors between 725 and 775 m, which are no longer required, are permanently filled. In individual cases, however, backfilling would mean that the swamps with the accumulating radioactively contaminated alkalis are no longer accessible and therefore no longer directly controllable. Should the planned pumping over longer distances lead to difficulties, this could result in an increase in the solution level in the storage chambers. Therefore some of the backfilling measures are viewed critically by AGO and the Asse-2 support group. In response, the BfS has developed an alternative concept which is currently being evaluated.

In the event of an emergency, further backfilling of the remaining cavities, counter-flooding of the mine building with a saturated magnesium chloride solution and, if necessary, the backfilling of shafts 2 and 4 are planned.

successes

Various institutions and groups have been working together in the Asse-2 support process since 2009. Important achievements of the accompanying process are in particular:

  • A comparison of options for the closure of the Asse was implemented through the Asse-2 accompanying process. After considering technical, mining and safety-related aspects, the retrieval of the Asse nuclear waste was identified as the only justifiable option.
  • The Atomic Energy Act was supplemented by Section 57b (“Lex Asse”) on the initiative of the accompanying process. It is u. a. the retrieval of Asse nuclear waste is legally stipulated.
  • The accompanying process contributed to the identification and specification of various sub-projects that are necessary for retrieving the nuclear waste from the emplacement chambers
    • Stabilization measures and emergency preparedness
    • Construction of a recovery shaft (shaft 5)
    • Recovery planning concept
    • Concept for the conditioning system, buffer and intermediate storage
    • Accelerate fact-finding
  • It was possible to agree on a catalog of criteria for the search for an interim storage location.
  • There is agreement between the various institutions and groups involved in the Asse-2 accompanying process on the construction of a conditioning system and a buffer store near the shaft.

Problems

Since the Asse-2 accompanying process arose out of a scandalous situation, it was only insufficiently clarified at the beginning of the process how its "external architecture", ie. H. its link with the system of representative democracy looks like. As a result, there are ambiguities and conflicts about roles and tasks. Questions of the legitimation of civil society actors are also discussed. Against the background of the differences, there was a two-day "interface workshop" in April 2015, which focused on the relationship between government agencies on the one hand and the Asse-2 support group on the other. All parties involved agree that the accompanying process aims to involve the affected regional population and is also intended to materially improve the retrieval process, but does not limit the decision-making rights and the responsibility of the state authorities for radioactive waste.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Internet site of the Federal Environment Ministry - BMUB: detailed view. In: www.bmub.bund.de. Retrieved April 5, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Internet site of the Federal Environment Ministry - BMUB: detailed view. In: www.bmub.bund.de. Retrieved April 5, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Federal Office for Radiation Protection: Comparison of options Asse. Technical evaluation of the decommissioning options for the Asse II mine. Federal Office for Radiation Protection, January 2010, accessed on April 5, 2016 .
  4. ^ Documents of the Asse 2 support group. Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
  5. ↑ documents. In: www.asse-2-begleitgruppe.de. Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
  6. ^ Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection: "Lex Asse". Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection, March 22, 2013, accessed on April 19, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection: Act on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and the protection against its dangers (Atomic Energy Act) § 57b Operation and decommissioning of the Asse II mine. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, April 24, 2013, accessed on 5. April 2016 .
  8. ↑ AtG - single standard. In: www.gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved April 5, 2016 .
  9. ↑ "Lex Asse" | Nds. Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection. In: www.umwelt.niedersachsen.de. Retrieved April 5, 2016 .
  10. ↑ AtG - single standard. In: www.gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved April 5, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Federal Office for Radiation Protection (2013): 2nd interim report on updating the project schedule as of March 31, 2013.
  12. ↑ Federal Office for Radiation Protection: Asse II mine. Overall presentation of retrieval planning. Status: January 2014. Federal Office for Radiation Protection, February 2014, accessed on April 5, 2016 .
  13. ↑ BGR - Presse - BGR statement on the planned Asse shaft: Expansion of the salt body less than expected. In: www.bgr.bund.de. Retrieved April 5, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Section "Safety of Nuclear Waste Management", Section "Asse Technical Issues": Criteria report interim storage facility . Federal Office for Radiation Protection, October 23, 2012, accessed on April 5, 2016 .
  15. ↑ Federal Office for Radiation Protection: Asse II mine. Overall presentation of retrieval planning. Status: January 2014. Federal Office for Radiation Protection, January 1, 2014, accessed on April 5, 2016 .
  16. ^ Johanna Metz: Asse II accompanying process a success. In: das-parlament.de. January 19, 2015, accessed June 4, 2019 .