In 1994, because of a change in atomic law, the concept of direct final disposal was developed as an equivalent alternative to the concept of waste management that included reprocessing.

Since 1979, tests for direct final disposal have been conducted in Germany. In 1985, the State and the utilities came to an agreement to develop this concept of waste management to technical maturity. Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service was commissioned by the utilities with the following tasks: to develop and test components with regard to conditioning technology, to construct and operate the pilot conditioning plant (PCP), and to develop casks suitable for final disposal.

Since 1980, the construction of the PCP has taken place at the Brennelementlager Gorleben site. The PCP has been designed as a multipurpose facility and can thus fulfill various tasks within the framework of conditioning and managing spent-fuel assemblies and radioactive waste. The pilot character of the plant allows for the development and testing in the field of spent-fuel-assembly conditioning.

The objectives of the PCP may be summarized as follows: to condition spent-fuel assemblies, to reload spent-fuel assemblies and waste packages, to condition radioactive waste, and to do maintenance work on transport and storage casks as well as on waste packages. Currently, the buildings of the PCP are constructed and the technical facilities are installed based on the Atomic Law Agreement. The plant will be ready for service in the middle of 1998. It is the first plant of its kind in the world.