Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2013
A new law in Germany requires the cleanup of 126,000 barrels of various types of radioactive waste dumped into the defunct Asse II salt mine in Lower Saxony. The century-old Asse salt mine shut down in 1964, then barrels of waste were dumped in its cavities. The Munich-based German Research Center for Environmental Health flooded the salt mine with a magnesium chloride solution in 2007 raising citizen concern for area drinking water. Since the ‘70s, the barrels have likely been rusting, seeping and off-gassing. Slow, exploratory drilling through a 66-foot-thick wall is underway to assess the radioactive and potentially explosive environment in the first of 13 chambers. After seven months of work not a single chamber has been found, perhaps because the salt moves continuously. Workers stand in a hermetically sealed space to prevent the spread of radiation. The prospective schedule for removing the radioactive waste says it will take at least until 2033 and carry a price tag of $5.3 billion. No new repository site for the waste has been selected. — Deutsche Welle, May 20 & Der Spiegel, Feb. 21, 2013
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