In a key step towards the commissioning of the Konrad repository, the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH (BGE) has awarded a contract to build the facility in which the radioactive waste will arrive and be reloaded from 2027 onwards. Running to a total length of 140 metres, the reloading hall with its adjoining buffer warehouse on the site of Konrad Shaft 2 is the largest building in the plans for the site.
With a value of some €137 million, the largest single contract awarded by the BGE and its predecessor organisations has gone to the Hannover-based company Ed. Züblin AG. In a Europe-wide procurement procedure, Züblin prevailed against four other competitors that also met the suitability criteria for participation in the tendering process for this complex construction project. The BGE had drawn attention to the procurement procedure by giving ample advance notice in order to widen the circle of participants.
Construction of the reloading hall is due to begin in the first quarter of 2023 and is expected to be completed in 2025. Inside the building complex, incoming containers of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste will be radiologically inspected, unloaded from trucks and railway wagons, and prepared for transport underground via the Konrad 2 emplacement shaft. Immediately adjoining the reloading hall, the buffer warehouse will be able to accommodate containers at short notice in case of unforeseen stoppages of the winding apparatus.
The reloading hall and buffer warehouse are subject to stringent requirements. The building complex is assigned to what is known as quality assurance area 3, which includes earthquake-proof construction among other things. Construction work is supervised by various different authorities, while supervision in accordance with nuclear law is the responsibility of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE).
About the BGE
The BGE is a federally owned company within the portfolio of the Federal Environment Ministry. On 25 April 2017, the BGE assumed responsibility from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection as the operator of the Asse II mine and the Konrad and Morsleben repositories. Its other tasks include searching for a repository site for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste produced in Germany on the basis of the Repository Site Selection Act, which entered into force in May 2017. The managing directors are Stefan Studt (Chair), Steffen Kanitz (Deputy Chair) and Dr Thomas Lautsch (Technical Managing Director).
