The first step of the licensing procedure is the environmental licensing, along with the construction licensing, which can be initiated parallel, or after the issue of the environmental license. Several different permits (mining, building, water authority, transport, construction and commissioning permits) are required for obtaining this license.

A comprehensive environmental impact study shall be carried for the environmental license, which shall include the identification and documentation of the major features (e.g. basic level of the background radiation, the health status of the local population, the ecological systems existing in the area, protected flora and fauna, etc.) of the studied area.

The conditions of the environment prior to the start of the operation shall be identified to obtain reference data for the purpose of comparison later. To this end, a so-called preliminary environmental study was carried out, as a first step, with two nodes: one for the assessment of the condition of the environment and another one for the monitoring activities. This latter one involves the long-term tracing of the seasonal and spatial variation of the environment.

The dual purpose of the research program: on the one hand, to take a complete inventory of the flora and fauna in the region and, based on it, to assess and present the values thereof and, on the other hand, to provide the basis for the zoological monitoring to be maintained in the future, too.

The fauna of the region was assessed and a list of data on the vertebrate and invertebrate fauna was prepared in the framework of the investigation. Highlighted attention had to be paid to group of animals, which include a significant number of protected species and can be used in the future for monitoring purposes.

The insect and the butterfly world of the region were surveyed. As part of the studies, the different soil types and the development thereof were also identified. All plant species were mapped to allow the demonstration later that the disposal facility has no impact on them.

Special emphasis had to be put onto the study of creatures living in water, since the fauna of waters changes more rapidly in several cases than the land one, thus indicating the environmental impacts or the changes in the conditions. According to the final report summarising the results of the studies, the site for the construction of the waste disposal facility has been fortunately selected from botanical point of view, since this has the smallest geological and botanical sensitivity among those studied.

A very large number of samples were taken and measurements performed to allow the prudent zero-level assessment of living waters and water sources used for drink water procurement.

Parallel to the underground work, a significant progress was achieved in the design and licensing work, in the preparation of the required documentation, and in the start and completion of the licensing procedures.