General information

After a licence is granted, nuclear power plants and research reactors in Germany are subject to continuous state supervision in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act (AtG) and related ordinances for their entire service life, from construction to decommissioning.

The federal states (Länder) are responsible for supervision of nuclear power plants and research reactors and for monitoring their safety and security. These duties are carried out by the individual federal state authority appointed as nuclear safety regulator, which in most federal states is the environment ministry. The supervisory authorities generally decide whether and which supervisory measures are to be taken (substantive competence). Just as in the licensing procedure, the federal states are assisted by independent experts, but decisions on supervisory measures are taken by the supervisory authority.

As with licensing, the primary objective of regulatory supervision of nuclear power plants and research reactors is to protect the general public and workers in these installations against the associated risks.

The supervisory authority of each federal state closely monitors:

• compliance with the instructions, obligations and ancillary provisions imposed by licensing notices
• compliance with the requirements of the Atomic Energy Act, nuclear licensing ordinances and other nuclear safety standards and guidelines
• compliance with any supervisory orders

It also investigates whether additional measures are required to protect life, health or material goods.

In order to ensure safety and security, the supervisory authority monitors the following, with the assistance of its authorised experts and other authorities:

• compliance with the operating rules
• regular in-service inspections of safety components and systems
• evaluation of reportable events
• implementation of modifications to the plant or its operation
• radiation protection monitoring of personnel at installations
• radiation protection monitoring in the vicinity of installations, including the operation of an independent remote monitoring system for nuclear power plants
• compliance with approved installation-specific limits for radioactive discharges
• precautions taken to safeguard against disruptive actions or other interference by third parties
• reliability, technical qualification and securing the expertise of responsible individuals and other staff at nuclear installations
• quality assurance measures

As set out in the Atomic Energy Act, the authorised experts appointed by the supervisory authority can access installations at all times and are permitted to perform any necessary examinations and request information relevant to the task at hand. However, the supervisory authority is not bound by the results of such investigations.

The operators of nuclear power plants have to submit operating reports to the supervisory authorities in line with the licence requirements, even after the phase-out of the commercial use of nuclear power. These reports include information about operating history, details of maintenance work and inspections and information about radiation protection and radioactive waste.

Safety-related and security-related events must be reported to the authorities in accordance with the provisions specified in the Ordinance on the Nuclear Safety Officer and the Reporting of Incidents and other Events (AtSMV). Operators also provide regular reports on specific issues. 

In addition to continuous regulatory supervision, periodic safety reviews are carried out and their results are submitted by set deadlines as required under section 19a of the Atomic Energy Act.

The release of radioactive substances is automatically and continuously monitored by the authorities using the independent remote monitoring system for nuclear power plants, both in the plant itself and in its vicinity. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) also has a sophisticated monitoring network to measure environmental radioactivity levels in Germany. 

According to section 24 of the Atomic Energy Act in conjunction with Articles 87c and 85 of the Basic Law, the federal states perform their supervisory duties on behalf of the Federation. The Federal Environment Ministry is tasked, through federal executive administration, with ensuring that the law and safety-related principles and requirements are applied and enforced uniformly. The Federation can issue binding instructions to federal states with regard to issues of substance, law and procedure. Should the Federation exercise its right to issue instructions, it asserts its substantive competence.

This does not apply to what is known as the competence to exercise duties, however, which remains with the relevant federal state authority and is irrevocable. Competence to exercise duties means that each federal state is able to legally act vis-à-vis third parties and nuclear power plant operators in particular. Within the scope of the supervisory process, the Federation is prohibited from taking and enforcing any decisions with regard to operators.

In practice, the Federation rarely exercises its right to issue instructions to the federal states. In most supervisory processes involving the Federation, the Federation and federal states work together to reach a mutual agreement on whether and which measures need to be taken. 

Following the 2011 Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) Follow-Up Mission conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Federal Environment Ministry and the competent nuclear licensing and supervisory authorities of the federal states agreed to produce a joint supervision handbook. This document details the cooperation between the Federation and the federal states for licensed and operating nuclear power plants and in procedures relating to nuclear energy law.

In 2019, the Federal Environment Ministry and the competent federal state licensing and supervisory authorities agreed to expand the existing handbook on cooperation between the Federation and the federal states under nuclear law to cover the decommissioning of nuclear power plants and the operation and decommissioning of research reactors. The existing descriptions of processes for the operation of nuclear power plants were supplemented to include the relevance of each process regarding the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, research reactors in operation and decommissioned research reactors. In 2025, additions were made to cover the relevance of each process regarding the security of the plants.