Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Germany may sue the operators of an experimental atomic waste site for negligence after a report showed that safety regulations were flouted for decades.

Mishaps which former federal operators of the Asse project in Lower Saxony state overlooked or failed to report included water seepage in dry disposal chambers and unauthorized storage of highly radioactive waste, the Environment Ministry said today. The ministry is concerned the violations may jeopardize plans to store atomic waste at permanent sites.

Asse's former management, a disbanded federal-owned radiation research company called GSF GmbH, and the state's mining regulator will be ``probed for negligence and possibly sued,'' Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters in Berlin today. The findings of the report on Asse are a ``meltdown, perhaps the biggest setback for permanent storage.''

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection's report on the site may be an impediment for Germany's nuclear lobby, including Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, campaigning to undo plans to close reactors by 2021. Gabriel, a Social Democrat, said his party's coalition partners have deliberately downplayed the dangers of storing atomic waste.

``Even if nuclear power gets an extension, you still have to store waste fuel safely,'' said Gabriel, who backs the plant closures. Nuclear fuel supplied about a quarter of Germany's power needs in 2007.

Water Leakage

The Office for Radiation Protection study showed water leakages in dry chambers went unreported as early as the 1960s, as did seepage of radioactive water from spent rod containers, Gabriel said.

The Asse project, set up in the early 1960s in former salt mines, has sparked protests over Germany's plans to find permanent storage for spent fuel.

In March, the mayor of Salzgitter lost a bid to prevent atomic waste being stored in a disused mine in the city. Judges at the Karlsruhe-based Constitutional Court ruled against an injunction brought by the city of 110,000, saying misgivings over the plan were ``not sufficiently justified.''

Gabriel called on the European Union to establish international standards for permanent storage that may support the government's contention that chosen sites are safe.

``Asse was a complete failure, a Swiss cheese of a salt mine,'' Gabriel said. Storage caverns in Salzgitter will be driven into clay at 1,230 meters (4,000 feet).

The federal government may assume direct control over Asse and permanent storage facilities at a later date, Gabriel said. The report cleared current Asse site operators, the Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, he added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Parkin in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 2, 2008 10:56 EDT