Current news

Konrad final waste repository – contract for number 2 shaft

On 15 March 2010 the bidding consortium of Dortmund-based Deilmann-Haniel Shaft Sinking GmbH and Thyssen Schachtbau GmbH, Mülheim an der Ruhr, was commissioned by the DBE (German Service Company for the Construction and Operation of Waste Repositories) to undertake repair and reinforcement work in Konrad number 2 shaft (K2) together with the  construction of connected mine workings. The contract has a total value of some € 120 million.

The award of the contract to the bidding consortium, which had already been commissioned to carry out work in Konrad number 1 shaft (K1), was preceded by a protracted and comprehensive tendering procedure involving bids from all over Europe. The quality and bid price of the DHSS/Thyssen proposal finally won the day. Konrad number 2 shaft, which is to date Germany’s only approved final repository for radioactive waste – the Konrad shaft is the site of a former iron ore mine near the town of Salzgitter in Lower Saxony – is now to be used as an underground storage facility. The storage operation is scheduled to commence in late 2014 and this shaft is then to be used for the underground deposition of up to 303,000 m³ of radioactive waste with negligible heat generation.

The work to be undertaken in the shaft will comprise the planning, assembly, operation and subsequent removal of all equipment needed for carrying out the project, including temporary winding gear such as stages, emergency winches, etc.; the planning, delivery and assembly of platforms and winding systems in the shaft; the planning, delivery and assembly of shaft pipework; and the installation of shaft fixtures (e.g. shaft guides, shaft inset frames), along with repair work on the shaft lining.

In addition to the work in the shaft itself the contract includes the construction of an inset/blind-entry system on the 850 m level, the renovation of the inset/blind entry on the 1,000 m level, the excavation of a transport road, the construction of a new shaft cellar (banking level), complete with fan drift, and the preparation and revision of all approval and execution plans as required under German mining legislation.

The new contract will add another German-based credential to Thyssen Schachtbau’s portfolio of activities in Russia, Austria and Switzerland.

The planned and approved Konrad waste facility is operated by the Peine-based undertaking DBE (German Service Company for the Construction and Operation of Waste Repositories) on behalf of the Federal Government, as represented by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BFS). 

Mülheim an der Ruhr, April 2010

>> back <<