Long term nuclear waste storage in Germany: An autopsy

A short while ago I was allowed to visit a long term nuclear waste storage facility, built to hold low and mid tier radioactive material for geological time (hundreds of thousands to a few million years).

I entered early in the morning and got into an elevator driving me 800 meters deep, with the complex tunnel system we toured going up to a kilometer down from the surface. I came up in the late afternoon a changed man due to what I’ve seen.

After multiple hours underground, having already met dozens of workers, who spend their days at a job without any sunlight in a grotesque world I could’ve never imagined, we finally arrived at the actual site where nuclear waste will be stored for millenia. I’ve seen the many tunnels stretching multiple kilometers in one direction in which the actual barrels and other containers for nuclear material will be put, completely drowned in cement, segment by segment, and then closed off for a time longer than the human species has existed, starting the load up in 2030 until 2070 in the city of Salzgitter, in my state of Lower-Saxony.

This facility will only be able to store half of Germany’s low- and mid-tier nuclear waste, only a bit over 300.000m³ of it. While this type of waste makes up for ~95% of all nuclear waste in Germany, it’s still less than a percent of total radiation emitted by all nuclear material. The other 99% is emitted by the high-tier nuclear waste, which there currently isn’t any solution for storing on planet earth, yet. Don’t get confused by the classiciations like “low”, “mid”, and “high”, as there is no international (or even European) standard for classifying nuclear waste. I was told by the leader of the BGE, Germany’s federal company for radioactive waste disposal, that there was an attempt to create such a standard at a working group of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), which she was a part of, but they gave up after just four weeks.

This facility was so deep underground as a rather arbitrary choice, simply because that’s how deep the iron miners went when this was an actual mine. The storage facility in France (Le Monge) is only 500 meters deep, in some European countries even less. The advantage of this here is that no ice age or glacier period has ever affected the underground this low (permafrost or thermal penetration doesn’t go deeper than 500m). Still, by today’s standards for nuclear long term waste storage, a facility like this wouldn’t be chosen, not just due to nearby underground water streams potentially breaking in and leaking nuclear waste into one of the largest rivers of Europe, but also because the city formed around the iron mine, and the 40 years of loading nuclear waste down this facility will come with accidents and an increased radiation to the people living here.

The room, if you could call it that, rather the tunnel, the complex where nuclear waste would be stored, was hot. Like Icarus who flew too close to the sun, I wasn’t aware that just a kilometer below the earth’s crust, we’d reach sweating temperatures of 37°C to even 40°C due to the earth’s core emitting its heat.

While the goal of this presentation was for Germany’s federal company for radioactive waste disposal (BGE) to convince us that this facility was safe so we’d endorse it in state and federal parliament, maybe even for them to polish their image, there were certain topics they omitted talking about. My favorite topic was one of them: Long-term nuclear waste warning messages.

We were told about how perfect this facility was, how nothing could penetrate it, and in geological time, all the simulations possibly proving otherwise, were misleading, so I asked about the one thing they forgot mentioning: the human element. Just 5000 years ago they built the pyramids, now archeologists rediscover and search through them. With billions going into this facility, won’t people finding any record of this place possibly believe humanity’s most valuable items to be stored here? Shouldn’t we install long-term warning messages for future generations? I asked.

The leader of the facility responded “We cannot take responsibility for future civilizations.”

Standing in the chambers that are built to exist for over two million years, those words sent a shiver down my spine. I realized that this would be our generation’s legacy: debt and a broken planet.

“I don’t believe in long-term nuclear waste warning messages” the leader of the nuclear waste storage facility continued. “I subscribe to the philosophy that we should ultimately forget about this place.”

She explained herself quite rationally, saying that any warning sign is at the end of the day a sign. Shutting everything down, not leaving anything to notice behind, except for a landscape indistinguishable from nature, would be ideal. She fantasized about closing it all down and growing green grass on top for a few minutes.

It was also her first time standing here, underground, at the actual site where nuclear waste will be stored, as in her years of managing this facility, often from afar in the name of the federal company for radioactive waste disposal, she was never underground. Unlike all the other people in white suits, she wasn’t greeted by any of the workers down here.

She continued saying that no civilization before the industrial revolution was able to dig as deep as this nuclear waste will be stored. Once we were able to dig so deeply, we also had devices that could detect radioactivity. In that regard she stated that “We cannot take responsibility for future civilizations.”

While I see her logic, I disagree. There will be records of this place, no matter how far underground, it will never be indistinguishable from nature. Half of all of Germany’s nuclear waste will be driven here. That’s tens of thousands of trucks from the entire country with one destination: Salzgitter, Lower-Saxony.

Enough money to solve homelessness multiple times over will be poured into one dot of a place. So close to a city with people remembering and retelling what was here. Especially with its past of mining iron ore, of which only a fraction of a percent has ever been dug out, I cannot believe that humans will leave this place behind, and when they do find it, there will be no message telling them to stop.

Our species has existed for 300,000 years. The first recorded civilization is around 10,000 years old, the burning of the library of Alexandria, which made humanity forget so much of ancient civilization, was not even two thousand years ago, and the dark ages ended 600 years ago. Not even 200 years ago, we still weren’t finished with the industrial revolution, and only 80 years ago, one human lifetime, the first nuclear reactor was built. Most of all nuclear waste was produced in the past decades, yet here we are dumping it below the earth’s outer crust, and making decisions for a period of time no living being could ever comprehend, only because we valued immediate reward over long term wellbeing.

Most of our history is forgotten, and the history that is known is always perceived through a miopic, contemporary lense. Yet in all we believe to understand about ourselves, no human, be they king or emperor, has ever been as greedy, as self-centered, as reckless as to make a decision for future generations for as long as we’ve done without even flinching. This underground nuclear waste facility stands as a monument, a time capsule for everything the future needs to know about humanity under capitalism.

The specific clay formation this facility is dug into has not changed within any measurable geological time. It’s ideal for long term storage like this, because when closed off without any air gaps, all layers of stone and rubble and dirt artificially re-done, the nuclear waste is supposed to just stay within that blob of clay which was here before the dinosaurs were wiped out, and will be here once we are gone too.

After we’ve filled it up, there’s no place in Germany for the other half of nuclear waste. What reasonable human could suggest continuing the energy production that lead to this waste in the first place, as if it was nothing?

They chose this facility to be the long term nuclear waste storage, despite nowadays being in the middle of Germany, because back in the day it was right next to the border with the GDR. Like France building their nuclear reactors into an enclave within Belgium, it’s always safe once it needs to be built in your backyard.

Now, we’re storing nuclear waste at the heart of this country.

We had a meeting discussing its safety before and after the underground visit. Wherever we went, we were greeted by the old German miner’s greeting “Glück auf!” literally meaning “may lodes of ore be opened” – not quite the timely statement as we hope that whatever is stored here is rather not opened any time soon.

The meetings were strange. There was this energy the room I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The political party I represented here isn’t quite known for their pro-nuclear stance, rather the opposite is the case: when the name of a former member of Bundestag from Die Linke fell, Victor Perli, the room went dead silent. “He made us sweat many times with his questions” the leader of the facility said. Interestingly enough, by pure coincidence, I met Victor Perli at his first public presentation since leaving the Bundestag less than a month earlier, and he gave me a quick brief about Konrad, allowing me to ask the hard hitting questions.

“I can understand why you don’t trust us. Our past actions have provided reasons for this.”

The leader of the facility said.

Victor Perli was also supposed to be here himself, but sadly had to cancel last minute, I’m sure the owners of this facility were glad about that, as it probably wouldn’t have helped the positive energy in the room they tried to create. Yet the two representatives from the AG Schacht Konrad (Working Group Mine Konrad), a local activist organization that has been opposing their town being turned into long term nuclear waste storage for the past 40 years, heated up many debates too.

This whole event was lobbyism. They wanted Die Linke (The Left) to no longer oppose this facility and agree to it in case we enter the state parliament in the 2027 elections. Additionally, they wanted the now two representatives of the region who are now in the federal parliament (Bundestag), Cem Ince and Jorrit Bosch, both present, not hopefully not turn into a successor of Victor Perli. Since both once worked for Mr. Perli, that endeavor was lost before it started.

A few images showing the transformation of an average citizen of the overworld to a miner going down an elevator traveling four meters a second.

Underground, busses would be too large, but simple cars with seats for five people not big enough, so they’ve modified a truck to seat 18 people, which can be driven to any place within the huge underground tunnel system. This is how we navigate this future nuclear waste storage facility. There were no maps and little to no signs, these drivers just knew the place by heart.

To all of us visitors, it was closer to a rollercoaster ride. Many of us have driven uphill, I believe very few people drove 200 meters downhill inside of a cave. A terrifying experience. This underworld may seem lawless, but German road laws still applied.

Touring the nuclear waste storage facility always gave me such a strange feeling — while I was glad that these people probably knew what they were doing, the kinds of questions they pondered were what frightened me.

How many millions of years could this structure stand? How deep does permafrost reach? Could a future human civilization reach and accidentally uncover this waste? What are the consequences if a leak occurs in X years, when would it be fine?

While the questions themselves aren’t the problem, they expose how little we can say for certain about sites like these. They expose how unprepared we are for radioactive material. They expose for how many generations we are making a decision.

Humanity is pioneering nuclear waste storage, it has never been done before, we have nothing to go off of. No civilization ever attempted to build anything this big that’s supposed to last this long. Walking these chambers made me feel like I was witnessing something historic. The only time capsule that could not be ignored, as its message was written in a language every species understands: physical harm, if not taken care of. If any civilization exists in one hundred thousand, one million, or two million years, and they’ll waste even a thought on us humans of the 21st century specifically, it will most likely be due to the facility I’ve wandered through.

I’m not sure how to feel about that. On the one side, it’s nice being remembered, on the other side, nothing gave us this right of disturbing our descendants.

Once back up, the second conference ensued. However, with less energy due to already being 6 hours underground, both sides began throwing some harsh realities at one another, without trying to uphold some nice facade. The good food they made in the hopes of us being more friendly towards them helped, though.

If you take a look at that second image, the federal company for radioactive waste disposal is showing the two different simulations regarding the longevity of their facility. In the case of sweet water entering the site, it could only last 300,000 years, with worst case conditions applied (nuclear waste containers vanishing into thin air, water not being obstructed, etc.), but with salt water it may take over a million years to reach and bring the radioactive material above ground. Of course, all of those numbers are without any human element. At a specific point in time someone raised the question of a foreign army occupying Konrad in the case of war, the owners brushed it off as something they can’t plan for. While that’s true, given the Russian army once occupied a nuclear power plant, it’s not unrealistic to also strategically take control of such a facility, especially since for forty years half of Germany’s nuclear waste will be carried here.

Additionally, the question of the accuracy of the simulation of their system was asked by a representative of the AG Konrad, an activist group that’s been protesting against their town being turned into a nuclear waste storage facility for over 40 years. That’s another question Victor Perli raised: the surrounding water streams do not yet have the required approval (wasserrechtliche Zulassung der Gebinde).

A representative responded that, despite trying to get such an approval in the past, she doesn’t believe the nuclear facility needs to have it.

“We don’t need a permit for under water regulation. We do something completely different from the agricultural facilities these laws were designed for. We cannot take on a product responsibility for 100 years or more. Usually, these permits are only for about 10 years. Accountability for a time period we are planning with isn’t something the German law accounts for.”

We concede. However, the activists in the room are currently still suing due to their decision to disregard the law when it comes to water regulation.

The other activist raises the point that 3D seismic scans were never made before putting all trust into this facility. The representative of the facility responds that their method of drilling holes and taking samples in addition to 2D seismic was far more accurate than 3D seismic could be. She calls the process “raw material exploration”. The conversation gets heated and technical. They concede, and admit mistakes in the past. The representative of Konrad says that by modern standards, this facility would never be chosen for long term nuclear waste storage.

They are keeping the security up to the newest standards, despite legally not being required to.

A conversation about the exact amount of nuclear waste that needs to be stored is started. Apparently, old GDR nuclear reactors still haven’t been fully cleaned yet, so the amount of waste they may produce are incredibly shaky and rough estimates. Only one of all of Germany’s nuclear reactors have actually been dismantled. The others are in that process. The problem of the Asse II, a failed long term nuclear waste storage facility that leaked radioactive material to the outside, which is close by and was also managed by the same organization as Konrad, was raised. The question whether all nuclear waste there can be “scraped off” is raised by the Konrad representatives, they don’t have high hopes for that.

A Microsoft teams notification pops up on the Laptop of the person with the presentation open, I could not read the message, but it was sent into a group with the name “Handling of the lawsuit”, which I found hilarious.

They said storing nuclear waste so far underground like we do was already an ‘overkill’, which I very much disagree with, considering the only reason nuclear waste isn’t touched by permafrost during a glacier period is because it’s buried this deep. Additionally, the entirety of their “we can’t be held responsible for future generations” argument relied on this being stored so deep underground.

Sweden’s nuclear waste storage facility is only 200 meters deep. France’s is 500 meters below the surface of the earth. The one in South Africa is 300 meters deep. The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg do not have any area that’s viable for long term nuclear waste storage. Slovenia and Croatia built their nuclear reactors together, so they also deal with nuclear waste together.

The question is raised that, given the EU’s usual “regulatory diligence” (a more demeaning German word was used), why is there no regulation for this? Or a European solution?

We were told that there are seven international definitions of nuclear waste, and they all stem from the different historical ways nuclear power plants were created. France’s nuclear waste problem is glass glazed waste, while Germany has fuel rods. We require completely different storage facilities, despite being neighbors. Despite all this, we are reminded that high-tier nuclear waste is not stored here, but are shown an image of the glass molds that they are currently stored in.

The EU Commission does have a working group trying to figure out what requirements an international long term storage facility must have, yet that’s in the earliest stages as can be and may lead nowhere.

Just for jokes, the question of chemically reprocessing nuclear waste, like the AfD (the German fascist party) suggests, is asked. The representative responds that she personally witnessed such a reprocessing in Karlsruhe, and not only is it an incredibly complex process for a miniscule amount of radioactive material, but it’s always connected to the use of lots of toxins, which isn’t helpful for the environment or world either. Additionally, these facilities that people often hear of in highly speculative, tech-optimist “newspapers”, that supposedly show facilities in Russia or China capable of reprocessing highly radioactive material, are just “Power-Point facilities” and don’t exist in the real world. They are concepts that are interesting, but hold no economic rational, and hence such proposals can’t be taken seriously, as they are more science fiction than currently existing technology. They cannot be planned with.

The final argument the representatives of this long term nuclear waste storage facility made in quite an exhausted and worried tone, was that regulations change all the time. When they started conceptualizing the old mine Konrad to store nuclear waste, it was up to the best standards in terms of security and location. Searching for a new facility by today’s standards, risks, in forty years down the line, those standards changing this dramatically once again, and hence still not having anywhere to store nuclear waste, even if everything is restarted.

To this I responded that we are planning on building something that’s supposed to exist for millions of years and hence needs an ideal location, so why the rush?

Once the debate was over, we said our goodbyes and parted ways, but that didn’t mean it was over for us. As leftists, simply listening to the propaganda of one state entity sadly isn’t doing our diligence, so we went with the activists to their house and had the record set straight for many of the things we heard throughout the day, as well as historical elements to Konrad that weren’t discussed in the corporate tour.

I was quite cooked at this point, as it was late in the afternoon and we’ve been up and running since 5 AM driving to this facility, going underground, having these exhausting conferences. I’d be lying if I was saying I was as attentive to these activists in their house, as to the federal company for radioactive waste disposal in their office. They talked about the fact that, even if Konrad will actually store nuclear waste, which is projected to happen in five years, their safety standards are much higher due to the constant opposition by those activists, fueled by the desire to not have another Asse. They were nice and made a lot of sense.

In this half dreaming state, I couldn’t help but remember the feeling I had when standing in the endless tunnels where nuclear waste would soon be stored. We were building a facility for eternity, and this work will only be known to future generations if not done well enough. Additionally, the work by us activists and oppositionists, will not be known directly, but only possibly in the effect of nuclear waste not leaking as badly, or maybe a hundred thousand years later than would’ve been without our newly set standards. Who knows. One way or the other: We won’t be remembered, but our waste will be.