New elements in the German radioactive waste management

As you know, the Federal Republic of Germany has carried out a very pronounced change in its energy policy since the year 1998. The key feature of this change is the phase-out of nuclear power for commercial electricity generation. Since the preceding conference organised by the Department of Energy four years ago in Denver, essential cornerstones of this new policy have been laid down in a consensual agreement between the Federal government and the major utility companies in June 2000. This consensual agreement served as a basis for the amendment of the Atomic Energy Act, which became effective on 27 April 2002 and which provides the legal basis for the new policy. The phase-out provisions within the Atomic Act concern both nuclear power plants and the reprocessing of spent fuel: nuclear power plants' operation is terminated by law as soon as fixed residual amounts of electricity have been generated, and transport of spent fuel elements to reprocessing plants is legally forbidden after 30 June 2005. Moreover, as long as reprocessing of spent fuels takes place, it has become mandatory for licensees to prove to the regulator on an annual basis that all reprocessed plutonium will be reused in the form of MOX fuel elements in nuclear power plants. (author)