On-site interim stores for decommissioning waste

Periods of interim storage of radioactive waste above ground perhaps up until 2040 must be bridged in case a repository will not be available in time. Ongoing operation of nuclear power plants and, especially, the increasing rate of decommissioning and demolition of power reactors add to the need to plan for the management of waste arising in operation and demolition. Most of the existing interim storage capacity has been earmarked for waste arising in plant operation. It will become necessary to create additional interim storage capacity in order to allow plants to be decommissioned and demolished speedily and, at the same time, make the necessary provisions for interim storage pending final storage. Government institutions and research centers (FZK, FZJ VKTA, and EWN) created new storage capacity in recent years. The waste arising from decommissioning and demolition of the Hanau nuclear plants will also be emplaced in a new on-site interim store. At a number of sites where power reactors are going to be decommissioned and demolished, operators also are planning for new interim storage capacity for radioactive waste. An overview is given of the on-site interim stores newly built and the new interim stores currently in the planning phase on various sites where plants are to be dismantled.