Stock Photo - 20 July 2023, Thuringia, Zwirtzschen: Heavy equipment is being used to clean up the legacy of uranium ore mining at the largest Wismut site in Thuringia. The Culmitzsch tailings facility collected residues from uranium ore processing. A total of four of these facilities covered an area of about 570 hectares in western Saxony and eastern Thuringia. The cleanup of the Culmitzsch plant, which covers about 250 hectares, is expected to last until 2028 and is the most time-consuming Wismut cleanup. By 2022, the total remediation of contaminated sites from uranium mining will cost about 7 billion euros, including 3.7 billion euros in Thuringia. Currently, Wismut GmbH expects total costs to reach about 8.9 billion euros by 2050. Photo: Martin Schutt/dpa. - Zwirtzschen/Thuringia/Germany