(GRS 154) Spent Fuel Performance Assessment (SPA) for a Hypothetical Repository in Crystalline Formations in Germany

Within the framework of this project a first long-term safety assessment study for a generic German repository with spent nuclear fuel in granite host formations has been performed. This work has been co-financed by the European Community within the project Spent Fuel Performance Assessment (SPA) under the contract FI4W-CT96-0018. In this European project participants from five other countries performed long-term safety assessments for repositories in granite, clay and rock salt formations.
In the past, crystalline formations were not considered in the German waste management programme since disposal in granite was not foreseen in Germany. However, this option has been followed by German participation in underground laboratories in other countries. The German institution Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) has investigated potential alternative disposal sites in hard rock. The results of this study have been part of the national project “Gegenüberstellung von Endlagerkonzepten in Salz und Hartgestein” (GEISHA). Within this study concepts for repositories in rock salt and hard rock formations have been compared in detail.