The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste stipulates that the burdens of handling radioactive waste and spent fuel assemblies shall not be transferred from our generation to succeeding ones. The exposure to radiation which might possibly emanate from a repository must at no times be higher than the level accepted by state-of-the-art science and technology today.

The target of safely disposing of radioactive waste or irradiated fuel assemblies is achieved by storing them in the earth's crust. In so doing, they can be permanently isolated from the biosphere in a maintenance-free way and the resulting exposure to radiation can be kept at the lowest possible level.

The selection of the site of a repository must be effected by taking various aspects into consideration in order to ensure that the disposal of radioactive waste does not have any harmful impact on the environment. The prerequisite for fulfilling these stipulations is the surface and underground exploration of the site. This exploration includes the compilation of geological, geomechanical, hydrological and other sets of data. The geological exploration delivers the specific data for assessing the suitability of a site.

A site will be deemed suitable if the compliance with protection goals and requirements can be certified. A safety analysis must be effected in order to certify that radiological safety can be ensured for the operating personnel and the population now and following the closure of the repository. This safety analysis forms the basis of the decision-making process within the licensing procedure (official approval of the project).

The Atomic Energy Act stipulates that a project approval procedure must be initiated following the preliminary selection of a site in order to assess the suitability of a mine as repository. This planning approval procedure also includes a review of the environmental compatibility of the selected site. The regulatory body of the respective Federal state (in Lower Saxony, the Ministry of the Environment) must review the concurrence of the documents required for the planning approval procedure with the licensing prerequisites of the Atomic Energy Act and other provisions subject to public law. It is part of the planning approval procedure to make the project public. The public has the right to raise objections to the project within a certain period of time. The project approval body must deal with these objections in a public hearing.