Experience and lessons learnt from clearance in Germany

Clearance is an important corner-stone of waste management in nuclear installations in Germany. It has been practised successfully for around two decades. The importance of clearance can also be judged from the fact that it has been included detailedly in the new German Radiation Protection Ordinance. Currently, there are 19 NPPs and a number of fuel cycle installations in operation in Germany. The main waste quantities, however, arise from the dismantling of NPPs and fuel cycle installations which are currently in decommissioning. As most of the decommissioning projects are targeted for early dismantling instead of safe enclosure, there is already considerable experience with the application of clearance procedures and verification of clearance levels. The German waste management strategy is governed by two options: Clearance of the material (after decontamination and release measurement). After clearance, the material is no longer regarded as radioactive in a legal sense. Final disposal of the material as radioactive waste in a deep geological repository (no near-surface disposal facilities exist or are planned in Germany). A deep geological repository is planned to be operable around 2030. Stefan Thierfeldt described German clearance requirements and lessons learned from their application to decommissioning of power reactors. The great majority of the waste was in fact recycled, although the costs were dominated by the small fraction that had to be disposed of as radioactive waste. Among the lessons learned from the German experience were some revealing insights into the public perception of both clearance and of recycling of material from decommissioning of a nuclear installation