Nuclear scrap embedded in concrete in Berlin-Wannsee: the federal and state governments are arguing about the dismantling of the research reactor – Berlin
The federal government and the state of Berlin are arguing about the dismantling of the BER I research reactor on the Helmholtz Center Berlin (HZB) site in Wannsee. Jan Thomsen, spokesman for the Berlin environmental administration, told the Tagesspiegel newsletter Checkpoint: “A dismantling of the reactor remains of BER I together with the decommissioning and dismantling of BER II is not currently planned.”
The background to this is a long-standing dispute over who will bear the costs for the dismantling of the BER I reactor block, which was shut down centuries ago. This continues to smolder despite the planned dismantling of the BER II research reactor.
The BER I reactor was shut down around 50 years ago after an accident. At that time, the fuel rods were removed and the contaminated remains of the reactor sealed off with concrete – a so-called safe enclosure. It has not been clarified who will later be responsible for the dismantling.
The initial ones were then transferred to the Central Office for Radioactive Waste of the State of Berlin operated by the HZB. The view of the state: Because the HZB is 90 percent in the hands of the federal government and only 10 percent in the hands of the state, the federal government should be responsible for the dismantling. The view of the federal government: The Central Office for Radioactive Waste is in the hands of the state, Berlin is also responsible.
Concrete dismantling plans for the reactor do not yet exist
As early as 2018, the Senate contacted the Federal Ministry of Research that might be responsible for the dismantling. Because since 2019, the successor research reactor BER II has also been shut down as part of the nuclear phase-out. The Senate argues that “linking the dismantling of BER II and BER I is in any case the more efficient and also more sensible solution from the point of view of radiation protection”, as spokesman Jan Thomsen writes.
This attitude was communicated to the HZB and the Ministry of Research by letter. But since then there has been no movement on the matter. “As far as we know, the responsible ministry has not yet taken a clear position on this,” writes Thomsen. The new Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger from the FDP would be responsible.
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At least the HZB is now taking a step forward: for a possible dismantling of BER, a cost statement for the dismantling should first be made. According to Tagesspiegel information, concrete reduction plans exist, but still not. First of all, there would have to be a political agreement on who is responsible for the nuclear waste that has to be concreted in. This is therefore more curious as the process for the dismantling of the BER II research reactor is several steps further – the dismantling application has already been submitted here. But that, too, will take decades.
The former HZB research facilities are nuclear facilities. However, they can only be compared with nuclear power plants to a limited extent. The BER II, for example, has almost one percent of the capacity of a power plant. Materials research was carried out in both reactors. Among other things, a petrified dinosaur skull was X-rayed with neutrons or an old painting by Titian.