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German Government Aware of Nuclear Problems: Report | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 08.09.2008

German Government Aware of Nuclear Problems: Report

A report published in Germany’s Focus magazine alleges that authorities in the state of Lower Saxony were aware of safety issues at the Asse II atomic storage facility 15 years ago.

The Focus report says the state government, led by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) at the time, commissioned a technical report on potential hazards at the converted salt mine in 1991.

After two years of evaluation, experts warned that areas near the south-western edge of Asse were unsafe. Their 1993 report found that up to 4,000 litres of water were flooding into the mine’s shafts each day. It recommended that all shafts and caverns less than 750 metres below the earth’s surface should be stabilised to prevent possible collapse.

Focus reports that although SPD leaders in Lower Saxony received an updated report highlighting safety concerns in 1998, they chose to keep the warnings under wraps.

The extent of the safety problems at Asse were made public last week, prompting Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel to transfer responsibility of the facility from the Munich-based Helmholtz Institute for Scientific Research to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

Nuclear power is often touted as being clean and carbon-friendly, but opponents point out that no one has yet found a durable solution for storing nuclear waste, which remains highly radioactive for centuries………………………..Der Spiegel reports that a search for alternatives elsewhere, which Gabriel and the Social Democrats prefer, would cost at least one billion euros. If plans for the waste storage facility at Gorleben are given up completely, energy companies could make compensation demands worth billions of euros.

German Government Aware of Nuclear Problems: Report | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 08.09.2008

Tags: nuclear.antinuclear, radiation, uranium

September 9, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties