Asse toilet heavily radioactively contaminated

Experts find radioactive cesium in the toilet of the Asse employees

30/03/2013

At a check in the Asse final, experts found radioactive cesium in the staff's toilet. For years, environmentalists have been criticizing the conditions in the ailing repository in Asse, Lower Saxony. A danger for the coworkers or inhabitants does not exist according to operators.

Carcinogenic cesium detected
During a routine check of feces in the toilet tanks in the mine, an increased concentration of the radioactive and carcinogenic substance cesium was found, according to the repository operator. So far, it is still unknown how the substance got there. Jens Köhler, Managing Director of the Asse told the „Brunswick newspaper“: "We do not know how the cesium got into the container". Despite the ignorance, the managing director insists that there is no health risk for local employees or the surrounding population.

Third-party debt is assumed
However, the operating company assumes that the radioactive finds can not be explained by natural causes. The measured values ​​were measured at 20 becquerels per liter. That is „twice as high as the legally permitted quantity“. However, the values ​​are significantly lower than the radioactive saline solutions in the mine underground. Because a third party debt can not be ruled out, the operating company filed a criminal complaint against Unknown. "According to the current state, the cesium can only have entered the toilet through negligent or deliberate action," said Köhler. The police and prosecutors will now take over the investigation.

Twelve thousand liters of water penetrate daily
Every day, around 12,000 liters of water penetrate into the defective atomic waste disposal site of Asse from the outside. Environmentalists predict that the salt mine could soon collapse. Other experts also assume that the system could collapse. For this reason, the Federal Government has ordered the casks containing around 126,000 barrels of low-mitel radioactive waste to be removed and transported. (Sb)

Also read:
No all-clear for cancer risk from aces
Cancer of the aces employees not by radiation?
Leukemia risk due to ailing aces plant?
Ministry of the Environment: aces cancer rate pure coincidence
Coincidence of the aces cancer rate has not been proven
Cancer cases in the environment of aces still unclear
Radioactive Radiation: Health Effects