Final repository search: Head of ITAS takes over chair of Support Body
The question of a site for the final disposal of highly radioactive waste in Germany should be resolved by 2031. The National Support Body (Nationales Begleitgremium – NBG) is intended to support the selection process in an independent and mediating way – with a special focus on public participation. The body has now elected Armin Grunwald, Head of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), as one of its two chairpersons. Grunwald shares the chair with political scientist Miranda Schreurs. He succeeds the former Federal Minister for the Environment Klaus Töpfer, who is no longer a member of the body.
„Prospective guidance and participation”
According to Grunwald, the aim is now to establish the NBG as a long-term institution after a successful development phase. “In addition to reacting to other actors, we also have to accompany and participate in the site selection process in a prospective way. The NBG must play a more proactive role in the network of institutions involved in the site selection.”
Grunwald has been a member of the body since 2016 after having previously belonged to the Commission on the Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste (Repository Commission) whose work the NBG continues. It has 18 members, consisting of twelve renowned public persons, elected by Bundestag und Bundesrat, and six citizens’ representatives who were appointed by the Federal Ministry of the Environment. (13.05.2020)
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