Suchergebnisse

Der vorliegende Band beleuchtet das Zusammenwirken naturwissenschaftlich-technischer Disziplinen mit sozial- und gesellschaftswissenschaftlichen Disziplinen, um zeitgemäße Lösungen zur Entsorgung radioaktiver Reststoffe - Atommüll - zu entwickeln. Dies ist umso wichtiger, da Bürgerinnen und Bürger mehr Mitsprachemöglichkeiten und Teilhabe in wissenschaftlichen Zusammenhängen einfordern. Daher werden sowohl Grundlagen der einschlägigen Disziplinen reflektiert als auch die Basis für die Wissenssynthese gelegt und Beispiele aus der interdisziplinären Zusammenarbeit des BMBF-geförderten, interdisziplinären Forschungsverbundvorhabens "ENTRIA-Entsorgungsoptionen für radioaktive Reststoffe" präsentiert. Dabei sind auch transdisziplinäre Bezüge dargestellt. Aus dem Inhalt Nuclear Waste Governance Entsorgungsoptionen: geologische und geochemische Aspekte Interdisziplinarität, Transdisziplinarität und Konzepte und Verknüpfungspunkte Risiko und Sicherheit Politik und Rechtswissenschaftliche Aspekte Wissensintegration Die Zielgruppen Dozenten und Wissenschaftler insbesondere aus den Bereichen Umweltwissenschaften, Politikwissenschaft, Rechtswissenschaft, Energietechnik, Verfahrenstechnik und Strahlenschutz Studierende; Entscheidungsträger in Verwaltung und Politik Die Herausgeber apl. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Smeddinck ist Volljurist und seit 2013 Co-Sprecher und Projektleiter der Forschungsplattform "ENTRIA-Entsorgungsoptionen für radioaktive Reststoffe" an der TU Braunschweig. Sophie Kuppler ist Umweltwissenschaftlerin und forscht am Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und Systemanalyse (ITAS) am Karlsruher Institut für Technologie sowie in ENTRIA. Saleem Chaudry ist Geologe und als wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Endlagerforschung (IELF) der TU Clausthal tätig sowie in ENTRIA

The road towards final disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HAW) produced in Germany requires extensive and foresighted management. To date, HAW has been stored in dual-purpose casks inside 15 interim storage facilities. Finally, it is disposed of in a deep geological repository. A site-selection process for this repository, taking into account the whole national territory, started in 2017. The road from interim storage to final disposal is not yet planned in detail: neither temporally nor spatially nor technically. Important parameters are still unknown. The last operating licenses of the existing interim storage facilities, originally built to last for up to 40 years, will end in 2047, and a concept for prolonged interim storage does not exist. The dates for the decision on the repository site and the start of its operation are plagued by uncertainties, as well as the development of safety concepts for different potential host rocks or knowledge on the long-time behavior of disused fuel assemblies during dry interim storage. According to the German site-selection law (Deutscher Bundestag, 2017) the siting decision for the final repository is planned to be made in 2031; Thomauske and Kudla (2016) drew up timelines for the site-selection process to end between 2059 and 2096. The research project WERA – Management of high-level radioactive waste in Germany: Roads from storage towards disposal – addressed these uncertainties through the development of different design options for the four main steps of the German road to disposal and of a variety of scenarios combining these steps, covering a broad range of potential future designs of the road to disposal. These scenarios have been analyzed in detail. Need for technical and political action along the road to final disposal has been identified. Options for action were named, and their preconditions and consequences were listed. The design options and the scenarios derived form the basis of societal discourse on the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Thus, the research project WERA contributes toward the politically and societally active integration of the different disposal steps (interim storage, receiving storage facility, waste conditioning, and final disposal).

The road towards final disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HAW) produced in Germany requires extensive and foresighted management. To date, HAW has been stored in dual-purpose casks inside 15 interim storage facilities. Finally, it is disposed of in a deep geological repository. A site-selection process for this repository, taking into account the whole national territory, started in 2017. The road from interim storage to final disposal is not yet planned in detail: neither temporally nor spatially nor technically. Important parameters are still unknown. The last operating licenses of the existing interim storage facilities, originally built to last for up to 40 years, will end in 2047, and a concept for prolonged interim storage does not exist. The dates for the decision on the repository site and the start of its operation are plagued by uncertainties, as well as the development of safety concepts for different potential host rocks or knowledge on the long-time behavior of disused fuel assemblies during dry interim storage. According to the German site-selection law (Deutscher Bundestag, 2017) the siting decision for the final repository is planned to be made in 2031; Thomauske and Kudla (2016) drew up timelines for the site-selection process to end between 2059 and 2096. The research project WERA – Management of high-level radioactive waste in Germany: Roads from storage towards disposal – addressed these uncertainties through the development of different design options for the four main steps of the German road to disposal and of a variety of scenarios combining these steps, covering a broad range of potential future designs of the road to disposal. These scenarios have been analyzed in detail. Need for technical and political action along the road to final disposal has been identified. Options for action were named, and their preconditions and consequences were listed. The design options and the scenarios derived form the basis of societal discourse on the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Thus, the research project WERA contributes toward the politically and societally active integration of the different disposal steps (interim storage, receiving storage facility, waste conditioning, and final disposal).

Are alternatives to the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in a geology repository conceivable? We present the results of the first phase of a research project on the state of the art in science and technology for alternative disposal options. The project is financed by the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management. Most recently, in 2015, the German Commission on the Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste (Endlagerkommission) evaluated possible disposal technologies and classified them as either promising, conceivable, or to be pursued further. Only final disposal in a geological repository was considered promising. Conceivable, but not immediately available or not advantageous, were storage in deep boreholes (DBs), long-term interim storage (LTIS), and partitioning and transmutation (P&T). All other alternative disposal options by burial, dilution, or removal from the planet were determined not to be worth pursuing. The Disposal Commission did conclude that none of the three conceivable methods (DBs, LTIS, P&T) would result in earlier disposal of high-level radioactive waste than the preferred final disposal in a mine. However, it recommended continued tracking and regular monitoring of the future development of alternative disposal options, e.g., disposal in deep boreholes. Finally, in 2017, with the amended Site Selection Act, the federal government specified disposal in a repository mine with the option of retrieval during operation or recovery for 500 years after closure. In a learning site selection process, the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Disposal (BASE) reviews the proposals of the project managing company, the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE), and prepares a reasoned recommendation to the federal government for a site with the best possible safety. Part of the reasoned recommendation is, among other things, a discussion of alternative disposal options to final disposal in deep geological formations. In the presentation, we report on the status of international research on alternative disposal options, discuss advantages and disadvantages of the technologies, and evaluate the potential of the technologies for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Germany. The LTIS is designed as dry storage in a building to be constructed above ground or near the surface and is expected to last for a period of several hundred years. With LTIS it would be possible to gain time for the development of a suitable final disposal option; however, this also postpones the disposal issue indefinitely into the future with undetermined methods. DB storage would involve sinking the storage containers into boreholes with depths of up to 5000 m. This could reduce the expense and be particularly advantageous for smaller inventories, although the potential for the use of engineered barriers would be limited and retrievability precluded according to the current state of the art in science and technology. P&T is primarily intended to separate long-lived transuranic elements from high-level radioactive waste and then convert them to short-lived fission products by neutron irradiation in reactors. The main goal is to reduce the necessary containment times in the repository by changing the inventory, but the effort to treat the waste would be significant and a repository for high-level nuclear waste is still needed. More exotic ideas for alternative disposal include deep geological injection of liquid waste, waste forms that melt themselves into rock, storage inside the ocean floor or subduction zones, shipment to space, burial in ice sheets, or dilution in the atmosphere and oceans. None of these exotic options is currently being actively pursued.

Are alternatives to the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in a geology repository conceivable? We present the results of the first phase of a research project on the state of the art in science and technology for alternative disposal options. The project is financed by the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management. Most recently, in 2015, the German Commission on the Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste (Endlagerkommission) evaluated possible disposal technologies and classified them as either promising, conceivable, or to be pursued further. Only final disposal in a geological repository was considered promising. Conceivable, but not immediately available or not advantageous, were storage in deep boreholes (DBs), long-term interim storage (LTIS), and partitioning and transmutation (P&T). All other alternative disposal options by burial, dilution, or removal from the planet were determined not to be worth pursuing. The Disposal Commission did conclude that none of the three conceivable methods (DBs, LTIS, P&T) would result in earlier disposal of high-level radioactive waste than the preferred final disposal in a mine. However, it recommended continued tracking and regular monitoring of the future development of alternative disposal options, e.g., disposal in deep boreholes. Finally, in 2017, with the amended Site Selection Act, the federal government specified disposal in a repository mine with the option of retrieval during operation or recovery for 500 years after closure. In a learning site selection process, the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Disposal (BASE) reviews the proposals of the project managing company, the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE), and prepares a reasoned recommendation to the federal government for a site with the best possible safety. Part of the reasoned recommendation is, among other things, a discussion of alternative disposal options to final disposal in deep geological formations. In the presentation, we report on the status of international research on alternative disposal options, discuss advantages and disadvantages of the technologies, and evaluate the potential of the technologies for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Germany. The LTIS is designed as dry storage in a building to be constructed above ground or near the surface and is expected to last for a period of several hundred years. With LTIS it would be possible to gain time for the development of a suitable final disposal option; however, this also postpones the disposal issue indefinitely into the future with undetermined methods. DB storage would involve sinking the storage containers into boreholes with depths of up to 5000 m. This could reduce the expense and be particularly advantageous for smaller inventories, although the potential for the use of engineered barriers would be limited and retrievability precluded according to the current state of the art in science and technology. P&T is primarily intended to separate long-lived transuranic elements from high-level radioactive waste and then convert them to short-lived fission products by neutron irradiation in reactors. The main goal is to reduce the necessary containment times in the repository by changing the inventory, but the effort to treat the waste would be significant and a repository for high-level nuclear waste is still needed. More exotic ideas for alternative disposal include deep geological injection of liquid waste, waste forms that melt themselves into rock, storage inside the ocean floor or subduction zones, shipment to space, burial in ice sheets, or dilution in the atmosphere and oceans. None of these exotic options is currently being actively pursued.

Frontmatter --Inhalt --Vorwort --Konzepte und Maßnahmen zum Umgang mit soziotechnischen Herausforderungen bei der Entsorgung radioaktiver Abfälle --Teil I: Konzeptionelle und geschichtliche Einblicke --Welche Unterscheidungen braucht die Endlagerforschung? --Nukleare Technopolitik in der BRD -- zwischen technischer Utopie und sozialer Dystopie --Vom starken zum weichen Atomstaat --Der Atommüll -- eine soziotechnische Tatsache --Soziotechnische Analoga als Erfahrungshintergrund für ein Endlager --Teil II: Regulierung und Interdependenzen --Pfadabhängigkeiten in der Endlagerpolitik --Rolle und Entwicklung politischer Beratungs- und Begleitgremien nach dem Konzept des Science-Policy Interfaces --Arenen zur Austragung von Dissensen in der Endlagerpolitik --Zum politischen Umgang mit Expert*innendissens --Der socio-technical divide im Endlagerdiskurs --Institutionelle Herausforderungen bei der Endlagerung hochradioaktiver Abfälle --Teil III: Reversibilität in Entscheidungsprozessen --Reversibilität im Kontext der Entsorgung hochradioaktiver Abfälle --Expert*innendissens und das reversible Verfahren der Suche nach einem Endlagerstandort für hochradioaktive Abfälle --Reversibilität in Entscheidungsprozessen --Teil IV: Planungs- und Langzeitprozesse --Robuste Langzeit-Governance und Notwendigkeiten neuer Navigation --Das Lernen in Organisationen --Raumsensible Long-term Governance zur Bewältigung komplexer Langzeitaufgaben --Achtsamkeit und Fehlerkultur als notwendige Sicherheitsleistung --Die Gestaltung robuster Governanceprozesse: Unter welchen Bedingungen kann sie gelingen? --Biographische Angaben zu den Beitragsautor*innen