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Flooding the shafts of the Wismut uranium mines has been condemned by
German environmental groups as an amateurish attempt at decommissioning.

Wismut – formerly controlled jointly by East Germany and the Soviet
Union – ceased mining uranium last year. Scores of experts visited the closed
mines and advised flooding them, as part of a £5 billion cleanup
operation.

Germany’s Association for Nature and Environmental Protection (BUND)
says flooding the mines could contaminate ground water in the area. ‘It’s
not yet clear what effect the flooding will have,’ says Peter Diehl, BUND’s
uranium mining expert.

BUND says the government is being hasty, tightfisted and secretive about
the cleanup.