The Unterweser interim storage facility in the District of Wesermarsch, Lower Saxony, went into operation with the emplacement of the first CASTOR V/19 type cask on 18 June 2007. The City of Nordenham, the District City of Brake and the municipalities of Stadland, Ovelgönne, Loxstedt and Hagen are all situated within a radius of 10 kilometres. The site grounds belong to Rodenkirchen in the Municipality of Stadland, District of Wesermarsch. The licence under the Atomic Energy Act for the storage of nuclear fuels in the Unterweser interim storage facility expires 40 years after emplacement of the first cask. BGZ has been responsible for operating the Unterweser interim storage facility since 1 January 2019.

The interim storage facility is located within the confines of the Unterweser nuclear power plant site on the western bank of the River Weser. This means that CASTOR 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 interim storage facility grounds are located on an around 0.9 hectare fenced-in area on the roughly 50-hectare overall site.

The reception and storage areas, as well as parts of the operating area, are located in the interim storage facility storage building. The reception area is adjacent to the western side of the storage area. The two areas are separated by a shielding wall. The storage area covers a total area of approximately 1,350 m². Around 750 m² of this area are actually used for storage purposes. The facility stores 80 casks in 16 rows, each with 5 spaces.

The current state of the licensing procedures for high-level radioactive waste interim storage facilities can be found on the website of the federal office for the Safety of nuclear waste management (BASE). Here.