Final German Nuclear Waste Transport from Sellafield Arrives in Brokdorf

The last planned shipment of German nuclear waste, reprocessed at the Sellafield facility in the United Kingdom, has arrived at the Brokdorf interim storage site in Germany. This marks a significant milestone in the handling of radioactive materials, fulfilling Germany's international obligation to repatriate waste generated from its own nuclear power plants.

The seven containers, which departed from Great Britain last week, reached the port of Brunsbüttel before being transported by specialized trucks to Brokdorf. The waste consists of the remnants of fuel elements that underwent reprocessing in England. Germany has a legal commitment under international agreements to accept this material back.

A spokesperson for the Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service (GNS) confirmed that the waste will be stored at Brokdorf until a permanent deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste is established in Germany. The interim storage facility at Brokdorf currently holds 76 containers of spent fuel from the Brokdorf nuclear power plant itself.

With the addition of these seven containers from Sellafield, the total number of stored containers at the Brokdorf site reaches 83. This arrival signifies the conclusion of the storage operations at this specific location. The containers will remain at Brokdorf until they can be transferred to their final disposal site. The repatriation of nuclear waste from the La Hague reprocessing plant in France was completed in 2024.

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