Radioactive Waste in the Asse Salt Mine in Germany

Danger of contamination of the ground and drinking water

The Asse Salt Mine near Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony was used to dispose low-level radioactive waste (LAW) and medium-level radioactive waste (MAW), including about 28 kg of plutonium from 1967 to 1978. Officials say that there is no high-level radioactive waste (HAW) but we are sure that there will be some high-level radioactive parts (HAW) too. The waste originated from the nuclear reprocessing plant Karlsruhe (WAK) and from nuclear power plants who operated during that time. Up to 90 percent of the whole waste in the Asse Salt Mine came from the nuclear-industry. Also, the Asse Salt Mine was a prototype for the thirty year old plan to establish a high-level radioactive waste storage in Gorleben, Lower Saxony.

In 1967, scientists said that there will be no danger of water or brine leaks. In 1969, many German newspapers wrote about the Asse: "Scientists: security for all times" was the headline. But in 1988 a continuous inflow of brine solution started, and since then they have not been able to stop the leakage. Currently there are about 12 m³ daily flowing into the mine, who should be dry for all times. In the beginning, the persons responsible said that a leakage would be the worst thinkable accident for dry storage of radioactive waste.

Eight years later in 1996, it was published for the first time that they had a "little" problem with water. Later they decided to flood the whole mine. This plan was stopped in September 2008, when we found out that the brines in the Asse were contaminated with tritium and radioactive caesium since 1988. Therefore, they definitely violated the Nuclear Law (Atomgesetz) and the German Radiation Protection Ordinance (Strahlenschutzverordnung) in the last year.

Because there is a special mineral salt in the mine which is easily soluble (carnallite) the inflow is really serious. There is great danger of contamination of the ground and drinking water in the whole region. Further, there is great danger that the whole mine (several million cubic meters) would collapse, creating a huge sink hole.

Nobody knows how much time we have to save the mine. Right now there are discussions about three different possibilities:

1. to fill the mine with concrete and brine,
2. to move the waste to another place inside the salt dome or
3. to retrieve the waste from the mine.

Each of these options would create huge problems with radioactivity and incur inhibitive costs. The cost for this operation would range from 2-4 Billion Euros. One cannot reach a good solution in such a bad situation.  The nuclear-industry, who delivered most of the waste to the Asse, is not willing to pay for the damage.

We have contaminations in the brine but hopefully not in the ground water yet. There is three times more Plutonium in the mine than there should be. Also, there is 16-times more radioactive Tritium in the mine than what the institutions responsible admitted to. This is what we know but we can't be sure that there isn't more.

The question about the cause of the leak can not be easily answered: it is clear now that there were leakages since the beginning of 1967. It is also clear now, that there were security problems with the mine since the implementation of the project.

One person responsible for the Asse Salt Mine was also a consultant for radioactive waste storages in the USA (Yucca Mountain, WIPP), France, Japan, Sweden and some other countries.