Topic 1 Nuclear Waste Management

The overarching goals in this topic are:
(1) providing scientific support to the German site selection process;
(2) advancing the scientific basis of the nuclear waste disposal safety case;
(3) developing technical competences during the next years related to decommissioning, predisposal and site remediation topics;
(4) providing fact-based information to politics and the interested public and
(5) training and educating the next generation of scientists and engineers in the field of nuclear waste management. Related scientific questions are addressed in the three subtopics.

Subtopic 1.1 Nuclear Waste Disposal

Within subtopic 1.1 “Nuclear Waste Disposal” KIT contributes to Helmholtz research by generating a comprehensive understanding and description of close to realistic evolution scenarios of repository systems. A specific challenge of the German site selection program is the need for an in-depth comparison of different disposal concepts in the three potential host rocks abundant in Germany: rock salt, clay rock and crystalline rock. In contrast to many other institutions involved in nuclear waste disposal research in Germany, KIT and NUSAFE partners concentrate on radio/geochemical aspects of the safety case for a deep geological repository.

Subtopic 1.2 Predisposal

KIT provides major contributions via the only professorship for decommissioning in Germany. Due to the fact that decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities will be associated with costs of around 1 billion euros and take 10 - 15 years, expertise will be required for at least one to two decades. Still today, a high degree of manual work is required for technical dismantling and very little automation, digitalization and robotics are available. The focus of the R&D work is on digitalization, the modelling of nuclear power plants with Building Information Modeling and the adapted and coordinated dismantling. According to the current schedule of the German selection process for a final disposal site, a prolonged intermediate storage of spent nuclear fuel will be needed, possibly exceeding a period of 120 years. The fate of spent nuclear fuel rods during interim storage is being investigated using specialized laboratory infrastructures. Research activities are insofar unique that only at KIT the facilities exist to study the behavior of irradiated material (hot labs) as well as cladding embrittlement reactions under carefully controlled thermal gradient conditions in the QUENCH/LICAS  facility.

Subtopic 1.3 Fundamental Research

KIT contributes by a unique combination of theory, high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy, NMR and laser spectroscopy to actinide coordination chemistry, to the elucidation of electronic structures in f-element compounds – a current hot topic in actinide science – and other radioelements. As one of very few groups worldwide KIT develops and applies Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) methods for ultra-trace characterization of radionuclides (RN) in laboratory and in-situ studies at Underground Research Labs on RN migration within the context of nuclear waste disposal. Within the HOVER research infrastructure project, the installation of an AMS instrument is currently under planning at KIT.

KIT Scientific Spokeperson Topic 1

Prof. Dr. H. Geckeis
Head of KIT  Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal - INE

Institute of Technology and Management in Construction - TMB

Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology - INR

Institute for Applied Materials - Applied Materials Physics – IAM-AWP