Legal aspects of the construction of the federal storage facility by a third party

In the 1976 amendment of the German Atomic Energy Act is provided that the operators of nuclearpower plants in the Federal Republic of Germany are responsible for storage and reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuels arising from their nuclear power plants, whereas the Government, as a result of the operators' duty to deliver their radioactive wastes, is responsible for the ultimate storage of such wastes and for 'making available' the proper facilities. There have been differences of opinion as to whether and to what extent the Federal Government is allowed to commission a third party to discharge this duty and, hence, to build and operate the planned federal ultimate storage facility for radioactive waste. The authors argue that legislation regards the operation through privately organized legal entities as meaningful in order to benefit from research and development experience. However, at any rate the prevailing legal uncertainty in this respect ought to be removed in order to avoid later delays resulting from the potential need to clarify these issues in court. (orig.)