Fiver years of uranium mine and mill decommissioning in Germany: Progress of the Wismut environmental remediation project

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:474009

Mager, D ^[1]

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1. German Federal Ministry of Economics, Bonn (Germany)

With the end of the Cold War and the fall of the iron curtain Germany inherited in 1990 by its reunification the legacy of 45 years of unrestricted, intensive uranium mining in the eastern part of Germany. The environmental damages and risks related to widespread soil and groundwater contamination, caused by huge tailings ponds and numerous waste rock piles in one of Germany`s most densely populated areas, made it necessary to implement one of the world`s largest environmental clean-up programs. 13 billion German Marks (8.7 billion US-$) will be spent within approx. 20 years for decommissioning and environmental restoration efforts. Five years after the start-up of the Wismut project considerable results have been achieved. Conceptual work, even regarding technically difficult issues of the program, is far advanced, and about one third of the physical work program has been completed. At the former mining and milling locations significant improvements of the environmental situation have been achieved. The further on-schedule progress of the Wismut program is an important prerequisite for the socio-economical development in the former uranium mining districts.

• OSTI ID: 474009
• Report Number(s): CONF-960804--Vol.2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
DECOMMISSIONING
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
MILL TAILINGS
REMEDIAL ACTION
URANIUM MINES