The coalition agreement of the Red-Green Federal Government of October 1998 states, amongst other things, that the disposal policy of the previous German Government has failed, that one repository would be sufficient to dispose of all radioactive waste and that there were doubts concerning the suitability of the Gorleben salt dome as a waste repository location.

The Federal Government thus justified the interruption of the exploration of the Gorleben salt dome (see moratorium) with conceptual and safety-technical questions on waste disposal (see also BMU) in the Consensus on Nuclear Power with the utility companies on June 11, 2001. Specialised technical reasons against a potential suitability of the Gorleben salt dome as nuclear waste repository were not put forward.

In order to obtain a neutral statement on the Gorleben repository programme, the waste producers decided to convene an international group of experts. The objective of this group of experts was to demonstrate whether or not the efforts undertaken so far were in line with the internationally recognised state of the art of science and technology. The group consisted of six internationally recognised experts who hold or held leading positions in the national waste disposal projects of their respective countries.

The final report of the expert group "Repository Project Gorleben - Evaluation of the Present Situation" from July 2001 can be downloaded on the right-hand side.

International experts recommend to continue with the exploration of the Gorleben site.