ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the issues of current and future storage of radioactive waste. It is a continuous technical, political and legal challenge to store nuclear waste and separate it from the environment. Although work on establishing a repository for the final disposal of radioactive waste began in 1965, it has yet to be established in Germany. Thus, the chapter aims to clearly identify the lines of responsibility of various entities that have legal obligations with regards to radioactive waste.
The chapter presents the obligation of the German states to operate an interim storage of radioactive waste, its functions and how it differs from a new type of interim storage facilities (established on the premises of nuclear power plants). This chapter further concentrates on the obligation of the German Federal authorities within radioactive waste management. Federal authorities are obliged to almost eternally store radioactive waste, because they have to establish and operate a disposal facility.
Finally, this chapter focuses on the issues of ensuring that generators of radioactive waste will bear the costs of the practically eternal storage of nuclear waste. The chapter analyses the final model of liability from the Federal Act of 2017 that introduced mandatory levies for the former operators of nuclear reactors.
