24.01.2020

Discussion with city council Ahaus 2020 In the discussion with the city council members of Ahaus: Dr. Heiko Gerstenberg (in the back 2nd from the left) and Dr. Anton Kastenmüller (in the back 3rd from the left) of the FRM II. Felix Ruwe (in the back, 4th from the left), speaker of the local initiative and city council member, also took part. © BGZ

In the discussion with the city council members of Ahaus: Dr. Heiko Gerstenberg (in the back 2nd from the left) and Dr. Anton Kastenmüller (in the back 3rd from the left) of the FRM II. Felix Ruwe (in the back, 4th from the left), speaker of the local initiative and city council member, also took part. © BGZ

Yesterday, the management of FRM II met for an exchange of information with representatives of the Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung (BGZ), members of the council and the administration of the city of Ahaus.

In the BGZ information house in Ahaus, Burghard Rosen, head of BGZ Press and Site Communication, first gave the council members an overview of the developments since the last meeting a good year ago. Due to the takeover of numerous interim storage facilities in Germany, the staff of BGZ has doubled to today’s 350 employees. Currently, BGZ operates 21 interim storage facilities at 16 locations.

Markus Röder, who has taken over the management of the BGZ locations in north-west Germany, explained the current projects at the Ahaus location to the council members. These include highly advanced retrofitting measures as well as the storage of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste or the planned interim storage of research reactor fuel elements in the Ahaus interim storage facility.

Karola Voß, Mayor of Ahaus, talked with (from left) FRM II director Dr. Anton Kastenmülller, BGZ division manager Dr. Michael Hoffmann and FRM II deputy director Dr. Heiko Gerstenberg. © FRM II / TUM

Karola Voß, Mayor of Ahaus, talked with (from left) FRM II director Dr. Anton Kastenmülller, BGZ division manager Dr. Michael Hoffmann and FRM II deputy director Dr. Heiko Gerstenberg. © FRM II / TUM

Current information on the status of the planned first transport of fuel elements of the research reactor of the Technical University of Munich (FRM II) was provided by Dr. Heiko Gerstenberg as its Deputy Technical Director. He described the type of nuclear fuel used, briefly touched on the fields of application of the research reactor and pointed out which technical and licensing steps have to be completed before the fuel elements can be stored in the Ahaus interim storage facility.

Following the introductory talks, the representatives of BGZ and TU Munich exchanged their questions and positions on the interim storage in Ahaus with the council members. On the part of FRM II, Technical Director, Dr. Anton Kastenmüller, also travelled to the interim storage facility.

“Regardless of different opinions on some issues, the personal exchange and open communication with each other remains correct and important”, explained Karola Voß, Mayor of the city of Ahaus. Voß thanked the BGZ as well as the delegation of the TU Munich for the first-hand information. “We would like to maintain this dialogue here at the site in the future”, Voß continued.

Text: BGZ