Preparation of a (short) expert report to provide expert advice to the district of Cuxhaven on the results of the interim report on subareas in the site selection procedure for a repository for highly radioactive waste.

Within the framework of the site selection procedure for a repository for high-level radioactive waste, five sub-areas were identified in the district of Cuxhaven which are expected to provide favorable geological conditions for the safe disposal of radioactive waste. Only one of these sub-areas is located entirely within the territory of the district of Cuxhaven.

The designation of these subareas is basically understandable. Characteristics that contribute to the suitability of the subareas are to some extent not transferable to the area shares in the district of Cuxhaven. It became apparent during the examination with regard to comprehensibility and plausibility that information from specialist literature and data, for example from stratigraphic logs of boreholes, were not used for the evaluation.

In many cases, it cannot be assumed that the consideration of this information will lead to a changed evaluation of the criteria or requirements of the Site Selection Act for the areas concerned. However, individual indications, such as the presence of glacial gullies that cut through the rock mass above salt domes and can impair its protective function against erosion and the access of groundwater, should be taken into account in the further procedure. The same applies to the observation that in various boreholes in the district of Cuxhaven the host rocks designated there for a repository were not encountered.

The subarea with the designation Basdahl/ Armstorf/ Odisheim/ Osterbruch/ Belmhusen/ Süderhastedt/ Tellingstedt/ Pahlhude/ Grevenhorst (068_00TG_163_00IG_S_s_z-ro) is to be emphasized. In the summary evaluation of the geoscientific consideration criteria, the evaluation of one of three individually evaluated criteria was incorrectly adopted. Therefore, for this subarea, the overall evaluation should be reviewed and adjusted if necessary.