Annual Report 2012 6 Applied Studies: Radionuclide Retention in the Multi‐barrier System ....................... 37 1 Introduction to the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal (ine) -5 - 2 Highlights 3 Education and Training

Cover illustration left: Detail of a spent nuclear fuel pellet showing radial cracks and the adjacent Zircaloy cladding. middle: Quantum chemical calculation of the incorporation of selenite into the calcite (104) surface. right: SEM image of Y(OH) 3 nanoparticles precipitated on a calcite cleavage surface. with its 1100 employees is one of the largest energy research centers in Europe. It bundels the energy research activities of the KIT, the merger of the former Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and Universität Karlsruhe and reknown cooperation partners. By this, it crosses the lines between disciplines and combines fundamental and applied research in all relevant energies for industry, household, service and mobility. The involved institutes and research groups conduct the research work on their own authority. The joining of subjects, the interdisciplinary collaboration of scientists, and the common use of high-end devices and installations, develops a new quality of research and teaching. The KIT Energy Center develops solutions in energy technology from a single source and acts as a highly valuable consultancy institution for politics, business, and society in all questions of energy. (i) long term safety research for nuclear waste disposal, (ii) immobilization of high level radioactive waste (HLW), (iii) separation of minor actinides from HLW, and (iv) radiation protection. All R&D activities of KIT‐INE are integrated in‐ to the program Nuclear Safety Research with‐ in the KIT Energy Center. INE contributes to German provident research for the safety of nuclear waste disposal, which is the responsi‐ bility of the Federal Government. Following the decision taken by Germany to phase out the use of nuclear energy, the safe disposal of long‐lived nuclear waste remains as a key topic of highest priority. Projections based on scheduled operation times for nu‐ clear power plants (Amendment to German Atomic Energy Act, August 2011) in Germany, indicate that about a total of 17,770 tons of spent nuclear fuel will be generated. About 6,670 tons have been shipped to France and the UK until 2005 for reprocessing, to recover plutonium and uranium. Consequently, two types of high level, heat producing radioactive waste have to be disposed of safely: spent fuel and vitrified high level waste from repro‐ cessing (HLW glass). The disposal of low‐ and intermediate level waste present in much larger quantities likewise needs to be ad‐ dressed. Over the last decades, a consensus within the international scientific/technical community was established, clearly emphasizing that storage in deep geological formations …