Objectives of the disposal related R and D programme of the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology

In Germany, R and D for geological disposal is shared by different governmental organizations, of which the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFT) is responsible for managing generic, i.e. site and facility independent, work. For this type of R and D in the last 25 years about 1100 million Deutschmarks have been spent, which has led to substantial progress on test disposal of LLW, development of disposal techniques for all kinds of radioactive wastes (boreholes technique for HLW and ILW and direct disposal of spent fuel), development of sealing devices and improvements in underground drilling techniques. In addition, extensive programmes on long term safety assessment have laid the basis for the safety analyses presented in the licensing process of the Konrad repository project for LLW and ILW. The Gorleben repository, which is foreseen for disposal of HLW, proceeds towards more detailed planning some of the R and D work which is financed by the BMFT. This is leading to a new concept in the BMFT research programme which will combine R and D for final disposal of radioactive and hazardous wastes, whereby the generic research issues are emphasized and less will be spent on technical developments and demonstration projects. With respect to the final disposal of radioactive waste, BMFT sponsored research will focus on specific problems of long term safety, assessment of uncertainties and reduction of conservative assumptions, performance assessment of geotechnical measures, and assessment of the safety margins of codes and methods used for evaluation of repositories in salt. As a general topic the programme will also address the problems of verification and validation of models and codes and assessment and improvement of databases