An information portal of the Federal government and the Länder

The legal framework

Germany has a raft of legislation in place to regulate nuclear power plant safety. Reactor safety standards are set out in numerous legal provisions with varying degrees of bindingness.

Germany’s entire body of nuclear safety legislation can be depicted as a pyramid (see figure below), showing the hierarchy of the national regulations, the authority or institution issuing them and their degree of bindingness. The individual levels of the pyramid are explained on the subpages linked to the right.

Germany's entire body of nuclear safety legislation as pyramid

Federal legislator:

  • Basic law (generelly binding)
  • Atomic Energy Act, Radiation Protection Act, Site Selection Act (generelly binding)

Federal Government (Bundesrat):

  • Ordinances (generelly binding)
  • General administrative provisions (binding for authorities)

Federal Government (Land authorities):

  • BMU publications (binding by specification in the license or by supervisory measures in the individual case):
  1. Safety Requierements for Nuclear Power Plans
  2. Guidelines and recommendations

Advisory bodies and The Nuclear Safety Standards Commission (KTA):

  • RSK, SSK and ESK guidelines (binding by specification in the license or by supervisory measures in the individual case)
  • RSK, SSK and ESK recommendations (binding by specification in the license or by supervisory measures in the individual case)
  • KTA safety standards (binding by specification in the license or by supervisory measures in the individual case)

Industry:

  • Technical specifications for components and systems (binding by specification in the license or by supervisory measures in the individual case)
  • Organisation and operating manuals (binding by specification in the license or by supervisory measures in the individual case)