Groundwater not at risk due to Morsleben Repository

The Federal Office for Radiation Protectin (BfS) makes the following statement on the article published on 22 April 2010 in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ) “Groundwater near Mosleben contaminated?" (printed edition) respectively "Land fears for groundwater near Morsleben" (online edition):

Interests of population of Lower Saxony taken into account

The BfS also considers it necessary for the Lower Saxon Environment Ministry (NMU) to make a statement within the scope of participation of authorities in order to attend to the interests of the population of Lower Saxony. The statement will be evaluated in the plan-approval procedure for the decommissioning of the Morsleben repository for radioactive waste. The BfS opines that, following a first evaluation, the explanations of the NMU need not necessarily lead to a re-evaluation of the decommissioning concept for the Morsleben repository.

Statement on individual points of criticism

• Other than suggested in the headline to the article, the groundwater is not at risk on account of the Morsleben repository for radioactive waste, not in Lower Saxony either. All discharges are examined for a possible contamination through radioactive materials and are only discharged to conventional sewage system after they have been “cleared”.
• Other than in the Asse mine, the Morsleben repository does not threaten to collapse. By backfilling in time chambers in the central part of the mine where no waste has been stored, sufficient stability and thus also time has been gained to implement a proper plan-approval procedure according to nuclear law.
• Retrieval of radioactive waste was examined. The BfS study on the “Evaluation of retrievability of the radioactive waste stored in the Morsleben repository” can be viewed on the BfS homepage, together with further documents on the nuclear decommissioning procedure.