future radiates

The use of nuclear power plants generates highly radioactive waste that requires a repository to store it safely for millions of years. Due to political mistakes in the past, it is very difficult to find a site in Germany that is accepted by society. The draft shows how Germany must react to a repository despite this difficult situation.

The design consists of two main parts. The first part are buildings for a visitor centre and a new mine for the repository. The second part is a superordinate marking concept. Two existing forest glades are marking the site next to Gorleben. Currently on one there’s an interim storage for nuclear fuel elements there’ll be a public visitor centre which includes a research centre, exhibition and workshop spaces, an auditorium, restaurants and the administration. On the other there is a former pilot mine. This area changes into a high security area which contains a controlling centre, several security facilities, a conditioning plant for final storage containers, long term interim storages, two shafts to access the mine and a restaurant. Both buildings are accessed via a circumferential arcade. A distinction is made between public functions which are accessed from the inside and the secured functions which are accessed from the outside. The concept of the design is a spacious wall which creates two closed areas. The buildings are framing the two existing clearings. Both buildings are monolithic. The rooms are subtracted from the mass and are accessed from corridors and the arcade. Thus they follow the principle and the characteristics of a mine - with chambers and corridors. For constructional reasons, the shapes of the parabola, rotational pa- raboloid, the rotational hyperboloid, the parabolic cylinder and the cylinder are used. The building material is a innovative bacterial self-healing concrete which mainly consists of recycled material. Another material used is recycled copper. The marking concept is used for long-term marking and Warning a future civilisation. The marking is radial and reflects the area of the underground storage facility. The circle exists in form of an artificial earth wall with a diameter of 2.5 kilometers. It encloses the public visitor centre and the high security facilities. The wall is broken by four monoliths, which are located at the intersections to existing pathways. In the centre there is the main monolith with warning signs and a lookout point.