Pursuant to the German Atomic Energy Act (AtG), nuclear power plant operators are obliged to securely and safely dispose of spent fuel elements, radioactive wastes and non-decontaminable waste resulting from the dismantling of nuclear power plants.

Of all the radioactive waste products produced by nuclear power plants, spent fuel elements warrant the most careful consideration because they pose the greatest radiation risk. Up until recently, Germany's laws on radioactive waste disposal allowed only two options for dealing with spent fuel elements: reprocessing or direct permanent storage.
However, Germany does not yet have a permanent storage facility, so up until recently the practice has been either to reprocess the elements or send them directly to central temporary storage facilities in Ahaus and Gorleben. The reprocessing waste was vitrified (incorporated into glass moulds), placed in purpose built containers, such as Castor canisters, and then transported to one of the two central temporary storage facilities.

E.ON Kernkraft just arranges fuel element temporary storage facilities on site at its nuclear power plants. This is E.ON Kernkraft's response to the Federal Government's call for an end to reprocessing and the associated cross-country transportation of radioactive waste. The planned interim storage facilities will become an integral link in the nuclear waste disposal chain.