BGZ Gesellschaft f¸r Zwischenlagerung mbH (BGZ Company for Interim Storage) is a privately-organised federal company based in Essen, Germany, and guarantees the safe and reliable operation of the Ahaus and Gorleben interim storage facilities. On 1 January 2019, the approved, decentralised interim storage facilities at German nuclear power plant sites were also transferred to BGZ. From 2020 on, BGZ will also manage the twelve storage facilities for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste from German nuclear power plants. This means that in the future, BGZ will be fully responsible for all the interim storage of radioactive waste from the energy supply companies.

The mandate of BGZ is derived from the Act on the Reorganisation of Responsibility in Nuclear Waste Management. The responsibilities for the decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear power plants and for the disposal of radioactive waste were redefined at the end of 2016: This Act states that the operators of nuclear power plants are responsible for decommissioning and dismantling, as well as for the proper packaging of radioactive waste. The implementation and financing of interim and final storage is the responsibility of the Federal Government. The sole shareholder of the BGZ is the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry for the Environment.

We are highly aware of our responsibility for safe and reliable interim storage ñ and we act accordingly. Safety in all areas, quality and reliability are our top priorities. To this end, we continuously improve the relevant safety and quality aspects in the planning and execution of our processes and services. We systematically record and evaluate relevant events in order to initiate appropriate improvement measures.