All players together: Hendricks, Wenzel und Steinbrügge pay visit to Asse mine

Underground, BfS President Wolfram König (right) explains to Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks (third from left) and the Lower Saxon Environment Minister Stefan Wenzel (2nd from left) the challenges of the Asse project

"What could be better for an operator than all players being aware of their responsibility," Wolfram König, President of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, thanked at the end of the visit of Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks to the Asse mine on 4 March 2014. König welcomed the Minister in the morning at the Info Asse in Remlingen and guided her through the mine. The Minister was accompanied by, among others, the Lower Saxon Environment Minister Stefan Wenzel, the chairman of the Asse-II Monitoring Group, District Administrator Christiana Steinbrügge as well as elected officials of the region and journalists.

Apart from technical and mining challenges, one must not forget the people involved in the difficult process of retrieval, König emphasised. He said that the public board, the Asse Monitoring Group, was of special importance. "Only when we reach people and win them on the difficult way of safely decommissioning the mine, will we achieve the goal," the President said. The Monitoring Group is an important partner in this.

How important the confidence of everybody was, was of particular importance in view of the fact that the perspectives had changed after five years of operatorship. "After five years of clearing up the shortcomings in the Asse project we are now looking into a future which holds unpleasant and difficult decisions for persons affected," König said at the final press conference and pointed out particularly the issue of a site for an interim storage facility for the waste from the Asse mine.