Radioactive waste used to be classified in Germany according to its dose rateThe dose rate is the quotient of dose and time; e.g. the dos... as low active waste (LAWLow active waste; usually with an activity concentration of ...), medium active waste (MAWMedium active waste; usually with an activity concentration ...) and high active waste (HAWHigh Active Waste:) This differentiation is still valid in many countries. This classification, however, makes no sense for safety-analytical considerations regarding ultimate waste disposal since the dose rateThe dose rate is the quotient of dose and time; e.g. the dos... is not decisive in this context. It is the radioactive inventory and the heat generated during the radioactive decayThe spontaneous conversion of a nuclide into another nuclide... process that are important. These parameters are required for the emplacement operation, for the technical design to control incidents and for the post-operation phase of the repository. For geological reasons no considerable temperature increases should occur in the planned “Konrad” repository. Therefore, the temperature increase in the host rock of the emplacement section has been limited to 3 kelvin. The admissible heat output of a waste package results from this specification.
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