German nuclear waste agency narrows search area, five states drop out

The federal agency responsible for locating a deep geological repository for high-level nuclear waste has released a new assessment that reduces the searchable territory to less than five percent of the national land area. Five states—Rheinland-Pfalz, Hessen, Berlin, Sachsen and the Saarland—are no longer under consideration, with the Saarland having been excluded as early as 2020 and Rheinland-Pfalz in 2025. Remaining candidate zones are distributed across southern, eastern, northern and north-western Germany and meet the agency's geological suitability standards.

The BGE conducts a scientific, stepwise safety review, discarding regions that do not satisfy each successive safety hurdle, and later considers proximity to population centers. The agency will propose specific regions for surface exploration by the end of 2027, after which the Bundestag and Bundesrat will decide the next steps. The ultimate repository is intended to isolate waste for a million years, with a required rock layer of at least 300 metres separating it from the surface.