Asse II nuclear waste repository: Changed water inflow worries experts
Environmentalists believe that the plans to retrieve nuclear waste that has been stored there for around 50 years from the Asse II mine are in danger.
Most of the waste was dumped in the Asse using wheel loaders.
(Image: BGE)
In the Asse II nuclear waste repository near Wolfenbüttel in Lower Saxony, the saltwater that has been seeping in for a long time has been taking new paths since the beginning of this year. The reasons for the change in saltwater ingress are still unclear, writes the Federal Company for Final Disposal (BGE). It is working intensively to determine the causes.
Since the inflow of water at deeper levels increased in April of this year, experts and politicians see plans to retrieve the nuclear waste stored in the former salt mine and other toxic substances deposited there at risk. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke expressed her concern last week.
The unstable mine contains 125,787 barrels of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in 13 chambers, which were stored there from 1967 to 1978. Pesticides that are no longer approved are also stored there. "Neither the geology of the Asse nor the mine itself are suitable for the storage of radioactive waste," is how the BGE describes the basic situation. Cracks form in the unstable mine, through which salty water enters. This is collected and disposed of so that it does not come into contact with the radioactive waste.
"Currently no danger"
The flow paths of the incoming salt water may shift or the collection system at the main collection point may be altered. According to the BGE, it cannot be ruled out in the long term that radioactive substances will be released as a result of the water ingress. "There is currently no danger, neither for the soil nor for the groundwater," explained Clemens Walther from the Institute for Radioecology and Radiation Protection at Leibniz Universität Hannover to the FAZ in an interview. "Asse II is so deep that it has no contact with any aquifers in the ground. Should Asse II be completely flooded with water at some point, the upper areas could come into contact with the groundwater."
However, it is not the case that the Asse would "sink" immediately, as is sometimes reported, Walther continued. Asse II had 3.6 million cubic meters of cavities, some of which are now filled with barrels and salt breeze. The 12 cubic meters of water that flow in every day is rather small. In mines in crystalline rock, this amount penetrates per minute.
About half of the 12 cubic meters can no longer be stopped and disappears through a now leaking foil that is supposed to catch the water, quotes BGE boss Iris Graffunder from the Frankfurter Rundschau. It is not possible to completely plan how the mountain will develop. "We are alarmed by this major change in the water inflow," Graffunder told the Braunschweiger Zeitung newspaper.
"BGE does not have Asse under control
Part of the emergency plans is to flood the mine if the inflow of solution increases to such an extent that it is no longer technically manageable. This is not currently the case, explains the BGE. Opponents of nuclear power from the "ausgestrahlt" initiative criticize that the BGE, as the operating company, does not have the Asse under control. "Instead of preparing for the deliberate flooding of the mine, the BGE must work with all its might to recover the radiation waste dumped there," it said in the middle of this month. "Anything else would have incalculable consequences for the health of the population and the environment of the entire region."
The BGE will provide information about Asse II in an online event on May 28, 2024 at 7 p.m.
The situation at Asse II shows "how far we are from being able to predict processes deep underground", "ausgestrahlt" continued. This should also be a warning for the current search for a final storage site and other nuclear waste projects such as Schacht Konrad.
According to current plans, the thousands of nuclear waste casks are to be retrieved from 2033. The preparatory work alone is expected to cost 4.7 billion euros. The waste is to be retrieved via a new retrieval mine, treated in a waste treatment plant and safely packaged before being transferred to an interim storage facility.
(anw)