Description: Quantities of waste As many as 1,750 casks of spent nuclear fuel will result from the operation of the nuclear power plants. This corresponds to a waste volume of around 27,000 m 3 . Contents of the interim storage facility: irradiated nuclear fuels The interim storage facilities mainly hold casks containing spent fuel elements from Germany's nuclear power plants, but also casks with high- level radioactive waste from reprocessing . The materials are stored there until they can be transferred to a repository . The total amount of high- level radioactive waste that will require final disposal in Germany will amount to approximately 17,000 tonnes of heavy metal. This corresponds to a waste volume of about 27,000 m 3 . * With direct final storage, the irradiated fuel elements are initially stored temporarily after their use in the nuclear power plant and later permanently stored without being sent for reprocessing again. © BASE Since the Federal Republic of Germany phased out the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity on 15 April 2023, this figure will no longer increase. At present, there are still some spent fuel elements in the nuclear power plants. Following their use in the reactor, they are usually stored in a water-filled cooling pond , a so-called wet storage, for about five years. During this time, the activity and temperature of the irradiated fuel elements will have decreased. After one year, for example, the activity level will have dropped to about one-hundredth of the initial value. After decay in the wet storage area, the fuel elements in Germany are reloaded into transport and storage casks and then placed in dry interim storage . The amount of irradiated fuel elements in the cooling pond is thus gradually reduced until all fuel elements have been placed in thick-walled transport and storage casks and stored at the dry interim storage facilities. Sufficient storage capacity for nuclear fuels The maximum capacity of the interim storage facilities for nuclear fuels is specified in the respective licences, which set upper limits for the storage of heavy metal mass, activity , heat output and the number of container spaces. The capacity of the respective on-site interim storage facilities was calculated, applied for and licensed on the basis of the maximum remaining operating times of 32 years specified in the 2002 nuclear phase-out decision. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident , eight German nuclear power plants were immediately shut down, and the operating lives of the remaining plants were reduced. Based on the estimated total number of casks required in Germany at up to 1,750, the capacities of the centralised and decentralised storage facilities are considered sufficient. Other radioactive waste According to current forecasts, nuclear power plants, other nuclear industry facilities and state institutions will produce around 300,000 m 3 of other radioactive waste by 2050. The forecast for 2050 assumes that approx. 66% of other radioactive waste will come from nuclear power plants and the nuclear industry, and approx. 34% from government institutions. The Konrad repository in Salzgitter is licensed to permanently store 303,000 m 3 of radioactive waste with negligible heat generation . This facility is currently being converted into the first repository to be licensed under nuclear law. In addition, up to 220,000 m 3 of radioactive waste to be retrieved from the Asse II mine must be included in forecasts for other radioactive waste . Furthermore, there will be up to 100,000 m 3 of residual materials from uranium enrichment , provided that these are not recycled elsewhere.
Origin: /Bund/BASE/Website
Tags: Salzgitter ? Raumwärme ? Endlager Konrad ? Brennelement ? Atomindustrie ? Radioaktiver Abfall ? Uran ? Schwermetall ? Endlagerung radioaktiver Abfälle ? Nuklearkatastrophe von Fukushima ? Atomrecht ? Endlagerung ? Kernbrennstoff ? Kernenergie ? Kernkraftwerk ? Lagerstätte ? Reststoff ? Transportbehälter ? Wärmeerzeugung ? Zwischenlagerung ? Abfall ? Abfallaufkommen ? Reaktor ? Speicherfähigkeit ? Atomausstieg ? Anreicherung ? Stilllegung ? Kühltransport ?
License: all-rights-reserved
Language: Englisch/English
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