No. 02/18 – Drinking water limit value is decisive for the BGE

The BGE adjusts its discharge request for the Bergmannssegen Hugo mine to the strict drinking water limit values

13 March 2018

The Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE) has once again amended its discharge request for the Bergmannssegen Hugo mine near Sehnde. Instead of applying the legally permissible limits of the Radiation Protection Ordinance, the BGE wants to discharge salt solution from the Asse mine into the mine only if the limits remain below the values of the Drinking Water Ordinance. The BGE had committed itself to this anyway. At the suggestion of the State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG) in Lower Saxony, it has now adapted the discharge request.

Ursula Heinen-Esser, Chair of the Management Board of the BGE said: “From the very beginning, we have committed ourselves to making use of the permit only if we succeed in continuing to stay below the drinking water limit value with the Asse salt solutions. There will be no discharge of contaminated solutions at any time. Such discharge is prohibited by law”.

Before the rock-salt-saturated groundwater is discharged, it is tested for radioactive substances. Every delivery is checked. The reference nuclides are tritium and caesium-137. The measurement is carried out within the framework of a release procedure according to Section 29 Radiation Protection Ordinance. Only when radiological safety has been proven in this release procedure may the salt solutions be discharged. Samples are also tested for all components every three months. The analysis of trace elements should indicate the smallest changes in the composition of the solution.

The measurements show that the tritium concentration is far below the limit value of the Drinking Water Ordinance. The Drinking Water Ordinance prescribes a limit value of 100 becquerels per litre (1 becquerel = 1 nuclear decay per second). The rock-salt-saturated groundwater to be discharged has a tritium concentration of 2 to 5 becquerels per litre. Caesium-137 was not detected.

The measured values are published regularly. You can find them on our website:  www.bge.de/de/meldungen/2018/1/asse-messwerte-der-abtransportierten-zutrittswaesser-2017/ (German only)

Background:

Since 1988, groundwater has been seeping into the Asse mine. Currently, there are about 12,500 litres of salt water (salt solution) per day. Of this, about 11,500 litres are collected at the 658-metre level about 100 metres above the radioactive waste and pumped away from there. These salt solutions do not come into contact with the radioactive waste and must be disposed of. Until the end of 2016, the solution was discharged into the Mariaglück mine near Höfer in the district of Celle. The influent salt solutions are currently being recycled industrially. The main customer for the influent salt solution is currently an industrial company that uses the rock salt solution as a raw material for further production processes. The Bergmannssegen Hugo mine is the back-up option in case the customer cannot accept the salt solution because of production or if more salt water enters the mine.

In letters to the citizens’ initiative and during an explanation of the plans in the environmental committee of the city of Sehnde, we have already offered that the city or a group of citizens can commission an institute of their choosing to carry out their own measurements of the salt solutions. The offer still stands: The BGE will cover these costs if you want to take advantage of it.

The BGE is doing everything it can to ensure that an emergency at the Asse II mine does not occur and thus jeopardise the retrieval of the radioactive waste. But this emergency is also not ruled out. The BGE must be prepared for this.

The Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE) is seeking a site for a repository for high-level radioactive waste and building the Konrad repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. The BGE is keeping the Morsleben repository open until decommissioning and is planning the retrieval of the radioactive waste from the Asse II mine. The BGE is a federally owned company within the portfolio of the Federal Environment Ministry. Its managing directors are Ursula Heinen-Esser (Chair), Dr Ewold Seeba (Deputy Chair), Professor Hans-Albert Lennartz (Commercial Manager) and Dr Thomas Lautsch (Technical Manager).