<P> Nuclear waste policy in Germany is in flux . German planning for a permanent geologic repository began in 1974, focused on salt dome Gorleben, a salt mine near Gorleben about 100 kilometers northeast of Braunschweig . The site was announced in 1977 with plans for a reprocessing plant, spent fuel management, and permanent disposal facilities at a single site . Plans for the reprocessing plant were dropped in 1979 . In 2000, the federal government and utilities agreed to suspend underground investigations for three to ten years, and the government committed to ending its use of nuclear power, closing one reactor in 2003 . </P> <P> Within days of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Chancellor Angela Merkel "imposed a three - month moratorium on previously announced extensions for Germany's existing nuclear power plants, while shutting seven of the 17 reactors that had been operating since 1981". Protests continued and, on 29 May 2011, Merkel's government announced that it would close all of its nuclear power plants by 2022 . </P> <P> Meanwhile, electric utilities have been transporting spent fuel to interim storage facilities at Gorleben, Lubmin and Ahaus until temporary storage facilities can be built near reactor sites . Previously, spent fuel was sent to France or the United Kingdom for reprocessing, but this practice was ended in July 2005 . </P> <P> COVRA (Centrale Organisatie Voor Radioactief Afval) is the Dutch interim nuclear waste processing and storage company in Vlissingen, which stores the waste produced in their only remaining nuclear power plant after it is reprocessed by Areva NC in La Hague, Manche, Normandy, France . Until the Dutch government decides what to do with the waste, it will stay at COVRA, which currently has a license to operate for one hundred years . As of early 2017, there are no plans for a permanent disposal facility . </P>

Where should the high level radioactive waste be stored