More than 400 barrels of low-level nuclear waste reportedly have to be examined and possibly repacked at a storage facility in Lower Saxony. The contents are predominantly from X-ray and cancer therapy waste.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Sauer
Advertisement
According to a report from NDR, North German Public Radio, there are hundreds of barrels of low-level nuclear waste at an interim storage facility in the town of Leese, in Lower Saxony, that have to be examined for leaks and possibly re-packed and resealed in new barrels.
State environment minister Olaf Lies of the SPD told DPA news agency on Sunday that there are 442 barrels that have to be checked for moisture formation inside the barrel.
Some of the barrels have to be dried, while others, which contain highly toxic substances, have to be re-packed and sealed, NDR reported.
The operator of the interim storage facility, Eckert & Ziegler, told DPA they would "not comment on speculations from third parties in other media."
Radioactive waste storage in Germany
A newly-formed commission will start working on a plan for a permanent nuclear waste storage site in Germany soon. The issue is something that has divided the country for decades.
Image: dapd
A new way forward?
It has divided Germany for decades but now, it seems, an end could be in sight. A newly-formed commission will soon start working on a plan for a permanent nuclear waste storage site in Germany. So far, Gorleben, in Lower Saxony has been considered the country's number one proposed site, despite constant protests from environmentalists and locals.
Image: dapd
A temporary solution
Dry cask storage containers, also sometimes known as castors, are left to cool in the current temporary storage facility near Gorleben. They contain spent nuclear fuel rods, stored in an inert gas for safety reasons. Their radioactivity will take many thousands of years to dissipate.
Image: GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH
The current problem
There is currently no permanent storage facility for the radioactive byproducts of nuclear energy anywhere in the world, only facilities treated as temporary solutions. The Gorleben temporary storage site also currently holds waste imported from France, Europe's largest nuclear power producer, with the delivery trains frequently a site of public protests.
Image: GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH
Moving waste around
A container with radioactive waste is moved to Gorleben in the German state of Lower Saxony. Often the transportation takes place at night, in order to minimise disruption and attention in the communities that the shipment is passing through. The event still remains a consistent headline-grabber in Germany.
Image: dapd
Protesters raise attention
Protesters dress up at a protest to blockade a transport of nuclear waste into Gorleben. A 2012 survey showed that some 40 percent of Germans say that they wouldn't want to have a permanent nuclear waste storage site near their home.
Image: AP
Re-using the salt mine
A salt mine near Gorleben is currently being investigated as a permanent storage facility for nuclear waste. Concerns about radioactivity moving into the water table are just one of the reasons why local residents are unhappy about the site being considered.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Environment minister in the spotlight
He's been in office for less than a year but German Environment Minister Peter Altmeier has been under consistent pressure to get results on the issue of a permanent storage facility for nuclear waste. At the same time he's trying to push forward Germany's changeover to renewable energy, known domestically as the 'Energiewende'.
Image: DW/Heiner Kiesel
The mistakes of the past
Gorleben isn't the only nuclear waste storage site in Germany. Federal parliament recently approved a new regulation to clear the salt mine Asse II of 125,000 barrels of radioactive waste, although the project is yet to begin. The site, near Braunschweig, was used in the 1960s and 1970s to store waste from nuclear power plants. It is now completely sealed up.
Image: picture-alliance/ dpa
Concerns about drinking water
In this archive photo, a worker takes a sample of dripping water in the Asse mine. Some think that the water here could be contaminated with leaking radioactive waste from rusting barrels of waste and for that reason a cleanout needs to be sped up. Visitors are now able to visit the site but are equipped with geiger counters.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Nuclear power shutdown by 2020
All nuclear power plants in Germany are due to be shut down by 2020. The Neckarwestheim plant was closed down in 2011, following the catastrophe in Fukushima. Now, however, one of the power plants on the site is back functioning again. What ultimately happens to the spent fuel rods from the facility will stay uncertain until Germany settles on a permanent waste dump site.
Image: dapd
10 images1 | 10
Long time storage site
Radioactive waste from the federal state has been stored in Leese for years. According to NDR, the barrels contain medical waste from X-ray surgeries or cancer therapy. There are a total of 1484 barrels.
Photos from the Ministry of the Environment show barrels that have been stacked up to the ceiling in several layers, row by row. Between them there is a passage that is just 70 centimeters (27.5 inches) wide.
Thorben Gruhl a member of a local citizens' initiative considers this irresponsible.
"They (barrels) are so densely stacked that only a very limited number of them can even be reached. We can now see that rusty barrels are somewhere in the second row,” said Gruhl.
When questioned by the state parliament's environmental committee in 2016, the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment listed a total of seven problem barrels. Now that number is much higher.
State Minister of the Environment Olaf Lies has been in office for five monthsImage: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Hollemann
How long will they remain?
The storage facility is located in an industrial area of Leese, about 100 meters (330 feet) from a furniture warehouse, a recycling yard and a paintball facility.
The Ministry publishes the results of the radioactive measurements on the fence in Leese. According to the report, no increased radiation has been detected at the former ammunition factory. But behind walls that are one meter-thick, the radiation is up to 2600 times higher.
Even if the barrels are successfully repaired and moved, the question still remains —where to put them? There is no final repository for nuclear waste.
The Konrad mine in Lower Saxony, which has been slated to be the repository for low-level nuclear waste, will probably not be ready until 2027.
According to NDR, Environment Minister Lies recently said in state parliament that the barrels should probably be returned to Leese to await final disposal.
As for the future, there is a tender offer document that says, ‘All barrels are to be processed by the end of 2025.'
