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Germany reports damage at nuclear waste storage site
Berlin (AFP) Jan 15, 2009 Germany's radiation protection office came in for criticism on Thursday after it revealed only this week that damage had been detected late last year at an old salt mine storing nuclear waste. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) discovered that chunks of the ceiling of a 750-metre (2,500-foot) deep chamber at the Asse site could crash on top of some of the 6,000 containers of radioactive waste below. The environment minister of the state of Lower Saxony where the site is located, Hans-Heinrich Sander, said that the information had been quietly posted on the BfS website late Wednesday with no accompanying press release. Sander himself was only informed on Thursday, his spokeswoman said. The BfS said the environmental ministry had been fully informed all along. The BfS said that as a precaution, the seals of the chamber were going to be reinforced with concrete to stop any radioactive dust or air escaping should any of the containers be damaged -- something that "could not be ruled out." It stressed however that there was no immediate danger and that the waste inside had "weak" levels of radioactivity. A further analysis was being carried out to see if additional measures were needed. No new radioactive waste has been stored at Asse since 1978. Pressure group Greenpeace has called the site a "ticking time bomb" and has pressed for the waste to be removed and disposed of at a safer location. The site has already come to symbolise for Germans the grave dangers they see as being associated with nuclear power. Last year it emerged that water had leaked into the storage leading to radioactive contamination in the local area. Shipments of waste to the country's only other storage site in Gorleben regularly spark angry protests. Polls show that a majority of Germans also remain opposed to nuclear power and believe the technology remains highly dangerous because of potential accidents and terrorist attacks. Former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government decided to mothball the last of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors -- which produce a quarter of Germany's power -- by about 2020, but nuclear is not dead and buried yet. Current Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives say that going back to nuclear, as fellow EU member Italy is doing, would reduce Germany's dependency on oil and gas imports from Russia and the Middle East. The conservatives, who argue that abandoning nuclear power undermines the goal of cutting greenhouse gases, want to look at extending the life of some nuclear power stations. Related Links Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Japan eyes restarting controversial 'dream nuclear reactor'
Tsuruga, Japan (AFP) Jan 15, 2009Japan, an economic giant with almost no natural energy resources, is eyeing restarting its "dream nuclear reactor" this year after a raft of safety scares closed the plant for more than 13 years. |
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