Selection of our Projects

The mineral graphite is used in some types of reactors and can be activated by neutron radiation, i.e. converted into radioactive isotopes. In order to select a suitable disposal option, the graphite must be thoroughly examined radiologically. However, many measuring methods are relatively costly and in turn produce new radioactive waste themselves. A team of researchers from GRS and the University of Cologne is therefore developing a method with which reactor graphite can be characterised quickly and reliably.

In a repository, geotechnical barriers contribute to the safe and long-term isolation of radioactive waste in the deep underground. The "sandwich" sealing system with its alternating sequence of sealing and filter segments is currently being tested as a geotechnical barrier in a large-scale experiment. GRS has assumed the technical leadership of the project at the international Mont Terri rock laboratory.

GRS is currently conducting research in the HEAF projectof the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) on the subject of fire protection in nuclear installations. The CSNI is an international body of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It coordinates all NEA projects dealing with the safety of nuclear installations.

Coordinated by the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/NEA), a new international research project has been launched to examine further the accident sequences at Fukushima Daiichi. Together with 21 institutions from 11 countries, Germany - represented by GRS - will also participate in the project "Analysis of Information from Reactor Buildings and Containment Vessels of Fukushima Daiichi NPS" (ARC-F). The three-year project is led by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).

In the research project ANSICHT, the concept of a method for the safety case of a German repository for high-level radioactive waste in argillaceous (clay) rock was developed in 2014 with the help of generic geological site models and taking into account the legal requirements. However, this could not yet be fully tested at the time. Therefore, in the follow-up project ANSICHT-II, which has now been completed, calculations for long-term safety analyses were carried out to test the safe containment of radionuclides in the containment-providing rock zone (CRZ) in the clay rock for the two repository site models investigated in ANSICHT.

GRS scientists have dealt with this issue as part of a research project which not only comprised investigations regarding storage casks but also studies of fuel assembly behaviour.

GRS scientists have investigated in a research project funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment how radon at the workplace can be measured and how its dispersion in buildings can be modelled.

According to the Federal Network Agency, renewable energies in Germany now cover around 31 percent of electricity consumption. Many of the renewable energies feed electricity into the grid depending on wind and weather. When times of high feed-in coincide with low power consumption, there is an oversupply. Since the power grids currently cannot accommodate this oversupply, wind and solar power plants have to be shut down from time to time.

Germany is searching for a site for a repository for high-level radioactive waste. According to the Site Selection Act, the site with the best-possible safety is be found by means of a comparative procedure. But how can the requirements of the law be transformed into concrete scientific requirements? Together with other institutions, GRS researchers now present a first approach.

When evaluating repository systems in crystalline rock, the possible fracturing of the rock is a challenging variable. In the CHRISTA-II research project, GRS scientists have developed modelling for such a system and studied the influence that various parameters can have on the underground transport of contaminants over thousands of years.