Philippsburg interim storage facility
The Philippsburg interim storage facility is located between Philippsburg and Oberhausen-Rheinhausen in the Municipality of Philippsburg in Baden-Württemberg and went into operation with the emplacement of the first cask on 19 March 2007. The licence under the Atomic Energy Act for the storage of nuclear fuels in the Philippsburg interim storage facility expires 40 years after emplacement of the first cask. BGZ has been responsible for operating the Philippsburg interim storage facility since 1 January 2019.
The interim storage facility is located on the site of the Philippsburg nuclear power plant and is enclosed by a fence. This means that casks only need to be moved a short distance from the reactor building to the interim storage facility and that no public roads need to be used. The storage building consists of one shipment and two storage areas. The shipment area is located to the north west of the storage building. Storage area 1 has a surface area of 1,150 m² for 72 spaces; storage area 2 covers 1,250 m² for 80 spaces. Casks are stored in the storage areas in 9 or 10 double rows, each with 8 spaces, totalling 152 spaces.
Four CASTOR casks holding radioactive waste from the reprocessing of German fuel elements in La Hague have been stored in the Philippsburg interim storage facility since November 2024.
Please find here further information on the return of radioactive waste from reprocessing.
Philippsburg interim storage facility
(Baden-Württemberg)
Rheinschanzinsel
76661 Philippsburg
Operator: BGZ Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung mbH
Cask spaces: 152 licensed | 106 occupied*
Current occupancy: 73 CASTOR V/19 | 29 CASTOR V/52 | 4 CASTOR HAW28M
Application: 1999
License: 2003
Commissioning: 2007
Licensed until: 2047
Licensed inventory: Maximum 1.600 t SM** | Maximum 6 MW***
* On 31 May 2026
** t SM = Tonnes of heavy metal
*** MW = Total thermal power in megawatts
