Nuclear waste repository: Searches should no longer be carried out in five federal states

In the search for a final storage facility for the waste from German nuclear power plants, the responsible experts have now narrowed down the German land area to less than five percent. According to a press release, the Federal Agency for Final Storage (BGE) considers the geological conditions in these areas to be generally suitable.

This means that the entire state area is now being processed or assessed. The federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Berlin, Saxony and Saarland are no longer part of the ongoing search. However, the Bundestag has the final say on the selection of the location.

There is also no final storage facility in Saxony, Berlin and Hesse

According to the information, Saarland was already excluded in 2020, Rhineland-Palatinate was eliminated in 2025, and Saxony, Berlin and Hesse were eliminated this year.

In 2020, the federally owned company initially identified 90 such areas in a report that could be worth further examination. This was almost 54 percent of Germany's area.

These areas will be narrowed down further as the process continues; currently only significantly less than five percent of Germany's area is in the selection process. The results are published on the BGE website as an interactive map.

Geological safety is a priority

During the search, the geological safety of the sub-areas is analyzed step by step in a science-based process. With each test step, the security requirements are increased, which is why more and more areas are excluded.

According to the BGE, the most important tool for narrowing is so-called representative preliminary safety investigations. Here, based on existing geological data and geodata, it is examined to what extent the safe containment of highly radioactive waste can be expected under the respective geological conditions. In general, granite, salt and clay are considered potentially suitable types of rock for the desired underground repository.

Narrowing to regions only at the end of 2027

The newly published work statuses are not yet binding results because the sub-areas will not be narrowed down to location regions until the end of 2027. After a thorough examination by scientists and BASE, the legislature, i.e. the Bundestag, then decides where to proceed in the second phase.

By 2050 at the latest, a storage facility should be found for around 27,000 cubic meters of highly radioactive nuclear waste that has been generated over more than 60 years of nuclear power. The location is intended to provide security for a million years.