General Project Description

The former iron ore mine Konrad was originally owned by the Salzgitter AG and is situated in the city of Salzgitter in Lower Saxony. The two shafts Konrad 1 and 2, which are about 1.5 km apart, and their surface infrastructure serve as access to the mine, which has a total of 6 levels with a horizontal extension of about 1.7 x 3.0 km.

Shaft Konrad 1 is used for hoisting excavated rock, supplies and personnel. This shaft serves also as air intake for the mine ventilation, necessary for the personnel and the operation of more than 50 vehicles. Exhaust air is discharged to the surface via shaft Konrad 2.

Iron ore mining was terminated for economic reasons in 1976, and due to the favourable geological conditions of the mine's site, an extensive geoscientific exploration and investigation programme to assess the site's suitability to host a final repository for radioactive waste with negligible heat generation was carried out. In 1982, the Federal Institute of Physics and Metrology (PTB), a predecessor of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), initiated the licensing procedure (site plan approval procedure) for the construction and operation of a final repository at the Konrad mine site.

From 1992 onwards, DBE took over further exploration work on behalf of the Federal Government. In June 2002, the plan to convert the Konrad mine into a final repository for radioactive waste with negligible heat generation was approved. Since there have been appeals against this licensing decision, the necessary conversion into a repository could not be initiated. In March 2006, all pending lawsuits against the licensing decision were dismissed by the High Administrative Court of Lüneburg.

Leave for further appeal was not granted. Subsequent appeals against denial of leave to appeal to the Federal Administrative Court were dismissed on April 3, 2007. Thus, the legal process is exhausted and the site license to convert the Konrad mine into a final repository has become incontestable and res judicata.