It is now likely that 126,000 barrels filled with radioactive waste have to be retrieved from
the salt mine Asse in Lower Saxony, Germany. After massive water infiltration that threatens
the integrity of containers and site, the planned final repository turns out not final after all.
The unprecedented recovery of the waste from several hundred meters depth will cost
billions.
The development shatters the illusion not only of salt as the ultimate, safe geology for
radioactive waste but also for the reliability of geological assessments and thus for any longterm
safety of nuclear waste repositories. In this case, it is so-called low- and intermediatelevel1
waste. What if high-level waste had been disposed of there?
