Photos: Leaking Nuclear Waste Fills Former Salt Mine

Nuclear-Waste Pileup
Photograph by Emory Kristof, National Geographic
Deep in an abandoned German salt mine, barrels of nuclear waste lie in a jumbled heap—untouched since the 1970s, when this picture was taken.
Since the 1960s the Asse II chambers in Lower Saxony (map) have served as storage sites for more than a hundred thousand barrels of low- to medium-level nuclear waste. Low-level waste isn't considered dangerous to handle, but medium-level waste may need shielding before disposal—such as encasing reactor components in concrete—according to the World Nuclear Association, which promotes nuclear energy.
In 2008 reports emerged that water leaking from Asse II since the 1980s is radioactive.
(Related: "Radioactive Rabbit Droppings Help Spur Nuclear Cleanup.")
Now, amid fears the mine could fill with water—causing radioactive contamination in the region—authorities with Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection are making an unprecedented attempt to retrieve and relocate hundreds of tons of waste from the controversial site.

"What we have to do now is find out if it's possible to remove the waste," said agency spokesperson Werner Nording. "This work has never been done anywhere in the world up until now."
Assuming all goes well—and after tests for radiation, toxicity, and explosive gases—the agency plans to remove the deadly waste with remotely operated vehicles by 2020.
—James Owen
Published July 8, 2010
Salt Cave
Photograph by Tobias Schwarz, Reuters
A worker stands inside a salt-lined chamber at the Asse II underground nuclear dump in June 2009.

Between 1967 and 1978, workers stored 126,000 barrels of radioactive waste—90 percent of it from nuclear power plants—inside the former salt mine. (See "Nuclear Power's Comeback" in National Geographic magazine.)

German authorities now want to remove the highly toxic material due to leakage caused by rock movements that threaten to destroy the geological barrier above the sealed storage chambers, which lie as deep as 2,460 feet (750 meters) below the central German countryside.
Published July 8, 2010
Contamination Test
Photograph by Tobias Schwarz, Reuters
An employee tests for traces of radioactive contamination at the Asse II underground nuclear-waste dump in June 2009.

Leakage of salty, radioactive water from the state-owned site were first detected in 1988 but weren't revealed to the public until 2008, provoking widespread anger. Control of Asse II has since been handed over to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, which now plans to close the facility. (Related: "Idaho, U.S. Battle Over Nuclear Waste Dump.")

"Our job is to win back the trust we lost over 30 years," the agency's Werner Nording said. "We have to guarantee the safety of the public with respect to radiation."
Published July 8, 2010
Shining a Spotlight
Photograph by Jochen Luebke, Reuters
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel visits the Asse II nuclear-waste dump in September 2009. Following a 2008 report that was critical of Asse II's past management, Gabriel described the site as "the most problematic nuclear facility in Europe."

When it opened in the 1960s, the nuclear dump was sold to the public as a temporary, experimental facility, said government spokesperson Nording.

But local residents were misled. "After a while the waste was put into the mine in a way that shows that there were no plans to ever take it out again," he said.
Published July 8, 2010
Above the Dump
Photograph by Friedemann Vogel, Getty Images
Rising from the central German countryside, part of an old mining apparatus marks the site of the Asse II nuclear-waste dump, as seen in a picture taken in June 2008.

The government bought the salt mine—which had been abandoned due to unprofitability—on the cheap in the 1960s as an experimental waste-storage solution for Germany's growing nuclear energy program.

Now the mine is unstable and filling with water, prompting efforts to remove the waste and find another storage site before Asse II collapses.
Published July 8, 2010
Trojan Horse's Asse
Photograph by Sean Gallup, Getty Images
Protesters gather in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate during an antinuclear demonstration in September 2009. Asse II has become a potent symbol of the long-term dangers of nuclear energy.
"We have to store this waste for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years," the Federal Office for Radiation Protection's Nording said. "It's really dangerous stuff we have to handle here."
Published July 8, 2010
Salt Drips
Photograph by Sean Gallup, Getty Images
An Asse II employee shines a flashlight at fissures caused by rock movements in the Asse II nuclear-waste facility in June 2010.

The cracks in the former mine are allowing water to seep in and dissolve rock salt. Authorities now fear that groundwater in the region could become contaminated with radioactive waste.

Currently some 3,170 gallons (12,000 liters) of salt-saturated water a day have to be pumped from the mine to stop it from mingling with leaked nuclear waste. "But we don't know how long we can do that," Nording said. "That's why we are in a hurry" to remove the waste.
Published July 8, 2010
Tumbling Waste
Photograph by Emory Kristof, National Geographic
A fisheye view of Asse II's interior shows a stack loader pushing barrels of waste over an embankment in the 1970s, when waste from nuclear energy plants was still being deposited at the site.

The low- and medium-level radioactive material includes toxic uranium, rhodium, and plutonium. Due to poor record-keeping, though, no one knows exactly what's in many of the barrels or what health hazards removal teams might face, Nording said. (Read "'Nuclear Archaeologists' Find World War II Plutonium.")

"It might be too dangerous for workers in the mine to get out that waste," he added. "We have to find out if it's possible or not."
Published July 8, 2010
Crane Control
Photograph by Tobias Schwarz, Reuters
A crane-control unit sits abandoned at the loading station for one of Asse II's sealed storage chambers in June 2009.

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection plans to start drilling into the chambers later in 2010 or early in 2011 to check on their condition—the first such inspection in 30 years. Teams will test radiation and toxicity levels and check for explosive gases.

Because of the risk to human health, as much of the waste as possible will then be removed using remotely operated machines.
Published July 8, 2010
Radiation Check
Photograph by Tobias Schwarz, Reuters
A government worker checks for radiation near the sealed entrance to one of Asse II's nuclear storage chambers.

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection currently has a ten-year deadline for decommissioning the facility, but as yet no new site has been designated to receive the nuclear waste, according to Nording.

The first priority is "to try to get this stuff out of the mine," he said. "Then we have to build a big interim storage area, where we can store it for some years until we find a place where we can leave it."
Published July 8, 2010