Main operating plan for the construction of the Konrad repository adopted
The plan allows for the transformation into a repository for low-level and medium-level radioactive waste
Year of issue 2008
Date 2008.01.17
Date 2008.01.17
The "Main operating plan for the construction of the Konrad repository", filed by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) on 16 Oct 2007, has now been approved by the Office for Mining, Energy and Geology. The main operating plan makes it possible to perform the required mining and construction work, which is a decisive step in the process of transforming the Konrad mine into a repository for low-level and medium-level radioactive waste.
The plan – which is subject to mining law – complements the plan approval order issued under atomic energy law in 2002. The plan creates the foundation (under mining law) for the scheduled transformation of the Konrad site into a repository. It is thus ensured that the works not covered by the approval under atomic energy law (plan approval order) can also be completed before the Konrad repository is taken into operation.
The approval permits, for example, the subsequent underground drivage of the first emplacement areas that must be available once the repository is taken into operation (scheduled for 2013) and the first waste is received for emplacement. The approval also includes the refurbishment of the existing shaft hoisting systems that are required for reasons of occupational and operational safety, independently of the shaft's use as a repository.
BfS is the mining organisation responsible for the Konrad repository and BfS is the operator under atomic energy law. The main operating plan now approved by the Mining Office covers the entire period while the site is being transformed into a repository and the preparatory work that is required so that the operation of the repository can start at the end of 2013.
Before a repository can finally be built at the Konrad site a number of preliminary operations (that BfS began in 2007) must still be completed. In the course of the current two-year preparatory phase, works are carried out to provide the necessary infrastructure and the requirements for contracting the construction work. The transformation of the Konrad site into a repository will then take roughly four years. The next steps scheduled for the premises are the refurbishment of the existing shaft hoisting systems Konrad 1 and the associated demolition and reconstruction of several buildings.
State of 2008.01.17