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Abstract
In the past, Germany reprocessed a significant amount of its spent nuclear fuel, partly on its own territory but mostly as a customer of British and French reprocessing plants. In mid-2005, Germany stopped this practice, banning new transports of spent fuel for reprocessing—although the already-exported material would be allowed to be reprocessed and recycled in German reactors as mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel. In total, about 6,500 tonnes of heavy metal have been contracted for reprocessing, but a significant portion of this material has neither been reprocessed nor recycled as MOX fuel in German reactors. Due to the complex import-export history and the partly nontransparent information policy of the German government and utilities, a comprehensive and up-to-date plutonium balance for Germany is not publicly available. This report provides an assessment of Germany's plutonium inventory (stored domestically or abroad) based on open-source information. Special attention is paid to the issue of whether the entire inventory of separated plutonium can be completely irradiated in German nuclear reactors before the last of them are shut down in 2022. The authors conclude that Germany's stock of plutonium waiting to be recycled was about 12.2 tonnes as of 2010; this plutonium should be completely re-imported from the United Kingdom and France by 2017. Germany's MOX-consumption capacities should be sufficient to irradiate the remaining plutonium, although further delays are expected that could leave Germany with an inventory of separated (unirradiated) plutonium.
Notes
1. IAEA, “Communication Received from Certain Member States Concerning Their Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium,” INFCIRC/549/Add.2/3, December 4, 2000; IAEA, “Communication Received from the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany Concerning Its Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium,” INFCIRC/549/Add.2/4, September 11, 2002, INFCIRC/549/Add.2/5, February 27, 2003, INFCIRC/549/Add.2/6, October 29, 2003, INFCIRC/549/Add.2/7, February 23, 2005 and “Communication Received from Germany Concerning Its Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium,” INFCIRC/549/Add.2/8, May 9, 2005, INFCIRC/549/Add.2/9, September 4, 2006, INFCIRC/549/Add.2/10, August 20, 2007, INFCIRC/549/Add.2/11, July 18, 2008, INFCIRC/549/Add.2/12, September 15, 2009, INFCIRC/549/Add.2/13, November 15, 2010, and INFCIRC/549/Add.2/14, July 11, 2011, all available at <www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Numbers/nr501-550.shtml>.
2. J. Carson Mark, “Explosive Properties of Reactor Grade Plutonium,” Science and Global Security 4 (1993), pp. 111–28.
3. The reprocessing facilities (UP2 and UP3 in France; the Thorp Product Store at Sellafield in the United Kingdom) and MOX fabrication facilities (MELOX in France and SMP Export in the United Kingdom), or parts of them, are listed as “facilities under IAEA safeguards or containing safeguarded nuclear material.” See IAEA, “The Annual Report for 2010: Additional Annex Information,” GC(55)/2, 2011, <www.iaea.org/Publications/Reports/Anrep2010/annexinfo.pdf>. On Euratom safeguards, see European Commission, “Commission Regulation (Euratom) No 302/2005 of 8 February 2005 on the Application of Euratom Safeguards: Council/Commission Statement,” Official Journal of the European Union L 54/3 (2005), <eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2005:054:0001:0070:EN:PDF>.
4. Martin B. Kalinowski, Wolfgang Liebert, and Silke Aumann, “The German Plutonium Balance, 1968–1999,” Nonproliferation Review 9 (Spring 2002), pp. 146–60.
5. For example, data on the amounts of heavy metal are based on average values for the weights of fuel element designs, which actually fluctuate from year to year in the range of a few percent. See S. Geupel, K. Hummelsheim, and W. Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Ergebnisse der Länderumfrage zum Stichtag 31.12.2010” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants: results of the survey among the federal states as of 12/31/2010], Gesellschaft für Anlagen und Reaktorsicherheit mbH, November 2011, pp. 2–3.
6. Frank von Hippel, ed., “The Uncertain Future of Nuclear Energy,” International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), Research Report No. 9, September 2010, pp. 3, 19, <www.fissilematerials.org/ipfm/site_down/rr09.pdf >.
7. German Federal Office for Radiation Protection, “Dezentrale Zwischenlager: Bausteine zur Entsorgung radioaktiver Abfälle” [Decentralized interim storage facilities: building blocks for the disposal of radioactive waste], 2008, p. 17, <www.bfs.de/bfs/druck/broschueren/dezentr_zwischenlager.pdf>.
8. Amounts of plutonium used in this article refer to the total plutonium content: the sum of all plutonium isotopes. In figures, if we refer to fissile components (e.g., plutonium isotopes Pu-239 and Pu-241), we characterize it by “Pufiss.”
9. Kalinowski, Liebert, and Aumann, “The German Plutonium Balance, 1968–1999.”
10. Michael Weis, Matthias Flakowski, Roland Haid, Franko Plaputta, and Frank Völker, “Plutonium-Verwertung: 40 Jahre MOX-Einsatz in deutschen Kernkraftwerken” [Plutonium usage: 40 years of MOX deployment in German nuclear reactors], ATW: Internationale Zeitschrift für Kernenergie 51 (December 2006), pp. 794–95.
11. In this article, the terms “export” and “import” are defined as shipping abroad, irrespective of a possible change of ownership.
12. The law is the “Gesetz über die friedliche Verwendung der Kernenergie und den Schutz gegen ihre Gefahren (Atomgesetz)” [Act on the peaceful application of nuclear energy and the protection against its hazards (nuclear law)], July 15, 1985, last changed November 8, 2011, § 9.
13. Kalinowski, Liebert, and Aumann, “The German Plutonium Balance, 1968–1999.”
14. The exact amount of German spent fuel reprocessed in Belgium is unknown. A report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) lists 28.2 tHM plus an undeclared amount from research reactors; see Jean-Marc Wolff, “EUROCHEMIC (1956–1990),” OECD Historical Series, 1996. However, the German government declared only 21.4 tHM as reprocessed in Belgium, by EUROCHEMIC; see Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,” Report of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Third Review Meeting in May 2009, October 2008, p. 40f, <www.bmu.de/files/pdfs/allgemein/application/pdf/3nationaler_bericht_atomenergie_en.pdf>. The reason for this discrepancy remains unclear.
15. On the total for reprocessing, see Mycle Schneider and Yves Marignac, “Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing in France,” IPFM, Research Report No. 4, April 2008, p. 21, <www.fissilematerials.org/ipfm/site_down/rr04.pdf>. On the amount transported, see Geupel, Hummelsheim, and Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants: results of the survey among the federal states as of 12/31/2010], p. 21.
16. “Rapport 2008, Traitement des combustibles usés provenant de l’étranger dans les installations AREVA NC de La Hague” [2008 report: treatment of spent fuel from abroad at AREVA NC La Hague], AREVA, 2008, pp. 20–21.
17. Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,” p. 40.
18. “Rapport 2008, Traitement des combustibles usés provenant de l'étranger dans les installations AREVA 515 NC de La Haguen,” pp. 20–21.
19. David Bodansky, Nuclear Energy, second edition (New York: Springer, 2004), p. 209.
20. For trade figures before 1990, see Kalinowski, Liebert, and Aumann, “The German Plutonium Balance, 1968–1999.”
21. On the material from the fast breeders, see G. Keßler, J. Kim, and K. Gompper, “Wohin mit dem deutschen Plutonium?” [What to do with Germany‘s plutonium?], ATW: Internationale Zeitschrift für Kernenergie 44 (March 1999), pp. 156–64. On the confiscated material, see Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, “Umweltradioaktivität und Strahlenbelastung” [Environmental radioactivity and radiation exposure], annual reports, 1990–2009.
22. Xavier Coeytaux, Emmanual Rouy, and Mycle Schneider, “Secret Shipments and Illegal Storage: The Strange Story of Imported Waste at La Hague,” WISE-Paris Briefing, March 9, 2001, pp. 7–8, <www.wise-paris.org/english/ourbriefings_pdf/010309BriefHAN1v1_en.pdf>.
23. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der Abgeordneten Dorothee Menzer, Dr. Barbara Höll, Eva Bulling-Schröter, weiterer Abgeordneter und der Fraktion Die Linke, “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request from Member of the Bundestag Dorothee Menzer, Dr. Barbara Höll, Eva Bulling-Schröter, other members, and the Left Faction, “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323, April 8, 2010, p. 5.
24. World Information Service on Energy (WISE)/Nuclear Information and Resource Service, “Areva: Layoffs and Reconstructing,” Nuclear Monitor, No. 736 (November 11, 2011), p. 1.
25. German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,” p. 40f.
26. Martin Forwood, spokesperson for Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, e-mail correspondence with author, January 2, 2010.
27. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage … “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request, “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323.
28. The figure of 10.7 tHM is from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,” p. 41; the figure of 13 tHM is from Geupel, Hummelsheim, and Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants: results of the survey among the federal states as of 12/31/2010], p. 24.
29. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage … “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request, “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323, p. 4.
30. Geupel, Hummelsheim, and Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants: results of the survey among the federal states as of 12/31/2010], p. 24.
31. German Federal Office for Radiation Protection, “Hintergrund der geplanten Verbringung des Schnellen-Brüter-Kerns und weiterer Materialien aus Hanau nach Frankreich” [Background information on the planned transport of the fast breeder core and other materials from Hanau to France], press release, June 16, 2004, pp. 2–3, <www.bfs.de/de/bfs/presse/pr04/Hanau_Hintergrund>.
32. Kalinowski, Liebert, and Aumann, “The German Plutonium Balance, 1968–1999,” p. 156.
33. E.ON Kernkraft, “Genehmigung für Transport von Mischoxid-Brennelementen zum Kernkraftwerk Grohnde beantragt” [Permission requested for transport of MOX fuel assemblies to the Grohnde nuclear power plant], press release, July 12, 2010, <www.eon-kernkraft.com/pages/ekk_de/Presse_und_Wissenswertes/Pressemitteilungen/Aktuelle_Presse/Pressemitteilung.htm?id=1441512>.
34. Martin Forwood, “The Legacy of Reprocessing in the United Kingdom,” IPFM, Research Report No. 5, July 2008, p. 15, <www.fissilematerials.org/ipfm/site_down/rr05.pdf>.
35. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), “NDA Statement on Future of the Sellafield Mox Plant,” August 3, 2011, <www.nda.gov.uk/news/smp-future.cfm>.
36. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage … “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request, “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323.
37. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage … “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request, “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323.
38. In 1986, Germany traded 23.6 tonnes of spent MOX fuel (approximately 1.2 tonnes of plutonium) that was too difficult to reprocess for 57 tonnes spent fuel from Swedish reactors, which was then reprocessed at La Hague. The MOX fuel is now stored at the Central Interim Storage Facility (CLAB) in Sweden. It is assumed that the traded amounts of plutonium content were equivalent to each other; therefore, such transactions are not accounted for in this estimate.
39. German Nuclear Waste Management Commission, “Stellungnahme—Anforderungen an bestrahlte Brennelemente aus entsorgungstechnischer Sicht” [Statement—Standards for spent fuel from a nuclear waste management perspective], May 27, 2011, p. 8, <www.entsorgungskommission.de/downloads/snanforderungenanbestrahltebe20110527.pdf>. Assumed here: Pufiss/Putot=0.6.
40. Furthermore, it is unclear how the German official declarations handle the records regarding French plutonium that was recycled in German reactors—which happened in 2009 at Philipsburg and 2010 at Neckarwestheim 2. See S. Geupel, K. Hummelsheim, and W. Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Ergebnisse der Länderumfrage zum Stichtag 31.12.2009” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants: results of the survey among the federal states as of 12/31/2009],” Gesellschaft für Anlagen und Reaktorsicherheit mbH, July 2010, p. 48.
41. German Nuclear Waste Management Commission, “Stellungnahme—Anforderungen an bestrahlte Brennelemente aus entsorgungstechnischer Sicht” [Statement—Standards for spent fuel from a nuclear waste management perspective], p. 8.
42. Kalinowski, Liebert, and Aumann, “The German Plutonium Balance, 1968–1999,” p. 155.
43. Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, “Management of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel, Balance of Reprocessing,” presentation for the Second Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, May 17, 2006, <www.bmu.de/files/pdfs/allgemein/application/pdf/jc_waste_storage_reprocessing.pdf>.
44. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage … “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request, “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323.
45. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der Abgeordneten Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, Hans-Josef Fell, Bärbel Höhn, weiterer Abgeordneter und der Fraktion Bündnis90/Die Grünen, “Schließung der Brennelemente Fabrik in Sellafield” [Response of the German government to a parliamentarian request from Member Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, Hans-Josef Fell, Bärbel Höhn, other members and the Bündnis90/Green faction, “Closure of the MOX-fuel fabrication plant in Sellafield”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/7137, September 23, 2011, p. 2.
46. Other sources for : Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage … “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request, “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323, pp. 5–6; German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, “Nuclear Energy Supervision and Radiation Safety in Baden-Württemberg,” March 2008, <www.uvm.baden-wuerttemberg.de/servlet/is/1566/Abteilungsbericht_2008.pdf/>; Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Public Health, “Öffentliche Bekanntmachung und Zustellung der Genehmigung nach § 7 Atomgesetz (AtG) zum Einsatz von weiterentwickelten Mischoxid-Brennelementen (MOX-BE) im Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen II (KRB II)—14. Änderungsgenehmigung” [Public announcement of change in license for usage of MOX in the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant], February 3, 2006, <www.stmug.bayern.de/umwelt/reaktorsicherheit/bekanntmachungen/gundrem_mox.htm>; Lower Saxon Ministry of the Environment and cllimate protection, “Sachstandsinformationen zoo den Kernkraftwerken Unterweser, Grohnde und Emsland” [Information on the Unterweser, Grohnde, and Emsland nuclear power plants], 2010, <www.mu.niedersachsen.de/live/live.php?navigation_id=2218&_psmand=10>; German Nuclear Waste Management Commission, “Stellungnahme—Anforderungen an bestrahlte Brennelemente aus entsorgungstechnischer Sicht” [Statement—Standards for spent fuel from a nuclear waste management perspective].
47. Geupel, Hummelsheim, and Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Ergebnisse der Länderumfrage zum Stichtag 31.12.2010” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants: results of the survey among the federal states as of 12/31/2010], p. 36.
48. The maximum licensed amount was calculated by the average Pufiss content of the MOX assemblies for every reactor, as provided by Germany's Nuclear Waste Management Commission, “Stellungnahme—Anforderungen an bestrahlte Brennelemente aus entsorgungstechnischer Sicht” [Statement—Standards for spent fuel from a nuclear waste management perspective], and multiplication with the maximum number of MOX fuel assemblies per fuel change as provided in .
49. Geupel, Hummelsheim, and Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Ergebnisse der Länderumfrage zum Stichtag 31.12.2009” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants: results of the survey among the federal states as of 12/31/2009], p. 36.
50. Geupel, Hummelsheim, and Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Ergebnisse der Länderumfrage zum Stichtag 31.12.2010” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants: results of the survey among the federal states as of 12/31/2010], p. 41.
51. IAEA, “Communication Received from Germany Concerning Its Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium,” INFCIRC/549/Add.2/. See other sources listed in note 1.
52. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage … “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request … “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323, p. 3.
53. Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,” p. 40f.
54. It is not possible to verify that the plutonium sent to France is identical to plutonium that was fabricated in MOX fuel and inserted into German reactors. Only a balance of the total plutonium amounts (without isotopic composition) is possible.
55. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage … “Sicherheit bei Transport, Lagerung und Einsatz von MOX-Brennelementen” [Response of the German government to a request … “Safety at Transport, Storage, and Deployment of MOX-Fuel Assemblies”], Bundestags-Drucksache 17/1323, p. 7.
56. P.G. Jülich, “AG Asse Inventar—Abschlussbericht” [Working Group Asse Inventory—Final Report], Helmholtz Zentrum München, August 31, 2010, <www.bmbf.de/pub/abschlussbericht_inventar_asse.pdf>.
57. Winfried Koelzer, Lexikon zur Kernenergie [Encyclopedia of Nuclear Energy] (Karlsruhe: Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, 2008), p. 172.
58. Geupel, Hummelsheim, and Mester, “Entsorgung abgebrannter Brennelemente aus den Kernkraftwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” [Disposition of spent fuel from German nuclear power plants], p. 4.
59. Equal to 1.3–1.9 t Pufiss, with a fissile fraction of 60–65 percent.