TL: RADWASTE IN AUSTRIA
SO: Greenpeace International [GPI]
DT: May, 1992

Austria May 92

Austria has no commercial nuclear power programme, although
there is a total of 5 research reactors (3 in Vienna, 1 at the
International Research Center at Seibersdorf and 1 at the
university of Graz).

Low and Medium level wastes from these are currently stored at
Siebersdorf. The Research Centre (OFZS) is involved in work on
disposal and up to 5 sites have been identified as possibly
suitable, but due to intense local opposition no site
investigation has yet been conducted (1).

**February 1992**
It has emerged that the wastes at Siebersdorf are stored in a
warehouse with no special precautions or installations. There
are currently some 6,850 barrels in the store, each containing
200l of waste.

The wastes, which have been accumulating since 1976, include
foreign material which is sent to Siebersdorf for analysis in
the IAEA laboratory there. It has been confirmed by scientists
at the centre that some of these foreign-derived wastes, of
which about 20 barrels arrive each year, contain plutonium (2).

The Ministry of Health has a contract with OFZS to find a site
for a final repository, but Science Minister Erhard Busek, as
manager of OFZS, has ordered that the contract, which expires in
June, should not be renewed (3). This is because none of the 4
sites selected by OFZS will allow drilling to be carried out as
part of the next stage of investigation. 

The 4 sites are: Grossgraben, Perweis, Sitzenberg/Gutenbrunn and
Bosruck-Sud.

The mayor of Siebersdorf has threatened to cancel contracts with
OFZS which permit storage of the wastes to continue, unless the
search for a repository site is renewed. This would mean that
the wastes would have to be returned to the country of origin
(3).

Sources:
1. Greenpeace Austria
2. IPS via Greenbase, 21/02/92
3. WISE 369, 27/03/91