Prime Minister McAllister visits Asse repository
BfS president König informs Lower Saxon Prime Minister David McAllister and BMU State Secretary Ursula Heinen-Esser about Asse
Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, David McAllister, and State Secretary of the Federal Environment Ministry, Ursula Heinen-Esser, caught up on the Asse II repository for radioactive waste on 18 March 2011. Among others, the co-operation between the involved institutions and the acceleration of the licensing procedures required for the retrieval of the waste from Asse was dealt with in an about one-hour-lasting exchange of views with the president of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), Wolfram König. McAllister declared that also Lower Saxony as the nuclear law issuing authority and the mining law supervision bore responsibility for the safe decommissioning of Asse. State Secretary Heinen-Esser emphasised that the BMU as the federal supervisory authority would continue to see that procedures could be accelerated.
Visit to the Asse mine (from left to right): Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, David McAllister, BfS president Wolfram König and the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Environment Ministry, Ursula Heinen-Esser
During the subsequent tour of the mine Prime Minister McAllister got an idea of the works being carried out to stabilise the mine and how the twelve cubic metres of saline solution daily flowing into the mine are dealt with. König who escorted the guests emphasised that the paramount objective of the BfS as the operator of the facility was the safe closure of Asse in accordance with the provisions of nuclear law. According to the current state of knowledge the long-term safety of man and environment was only to be realised by retrieving the waste. In the view of the representatives of the federation and of Lower Saxony a safe solution to the Asse problem can only be found when all parties involved co-operate constructively.
On the 750-m level the Prime Minister visited the preparatory works for drilling into emplacement chamber 7. In the scope of the trial phase (fact finding) one intends to drill into and open two emplacement chambers in order to recover first waste packages test-wise. The objective is to smooth still existing uncertainties relating to the state of the waste packages, the emplacement chambers and the radiation exposure to be expected when retrieving the waste.