Asse II mine – License for handling radioactive substances pursuant to Article 7 of the Radiation Protection Ordinance (StrlSchV)

In preparation for a position paper to be drawn up by the federal supervisory authority regarding the draft licence issued by the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment and Climate Protection (NMU), in a letter of 31 July 2009 the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) asked the SSK and ESK to discuss and evaluate the draft licence pursuant to Article 7 of the Radiation Protection Ordinance for the handling of radioactive substances in the Asse II mine. According to the assignment, the SSK was to focus on issues of radiological health and safety at the workplace, source and environmental monitoring and protecting the population and the environment during normal operations and in case of incidents.

Clearance was not part of the assignment and therefore was not included in the evaluation. Nevertheless, the statement highlights some contradictions in the draft licence.

Since the opinion of the expert called in by the licensing authority under nuclear energy legislation was not available to the SSK, the Commission was not in a position to understand in every detail the statements made by the licensing authority regarding the review results of the expert consulted.

The statement by the SSK is based on the draft licence by the NMU and the application documents of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and evaluates the facts of the case and the assessment by the licensing authority under nuclear energy legislation. The SSK paper contains comments and recommendations on several of the issues evaluated.

The statement is complemented by comments of the ESK on incidents to be considered and emergency and precautionary measures for the cases to be looked at in the context of the license application.