Krunkelbach mine

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Krunkelbach mine
General information about the mine
Uranotungstite-104313.jpg
Uranotungite from the type locality "Grube Krunkelbach" (image width: 3 mm)
other names Hans Paul Pit
Mining technology Ridge construction
Funding / total 100,000 t of uranium ore
Rare minerals Pitchblende
Information about the mining company
Operating company Brunhilde Union
Employees 9
Start of operation 1961
End of operation 1991
Successor use Radon bath
Funded raw materials
Degradation of uranium
Mightiness 0.8 m - 2.3 m
Greatest depth 240 m
Geographical location
Coordinates 47 ° 50 '20.1 "  N , 8 ° 2' 42"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 50 '20.1 "  N , 8 ° 2' 42"  E
Krunkelbach mine (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
Krunkelbach mine
Location Krunkelbach pit
Location Menzenschwand
local community St. Blasien
District ( NUTS3 ) Waldshut
country State of Baden-Württemberg
Country Germany

The Krunkelbach mine , also known as the Hans Paul mine , was a mine for the investigation of a uranium deposit in the Black Forest near the municipality of Menzenschwand , today a district of St. Blasien in the Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg . Located on the edge of the Feldberg nature reserve , the operation of the mine between 1961 and 1991 sparked protests from residents, nature and environmentalists and the anti-nuclear movement . In the 1970s, plans failed to use water containing radon from the pit to turn Menzenschwand into an exclusive spa . Since 2005 , water from the uranium deposit has been used to operate a radon bath in Menzenschwand.

Prospecting

Against the background of the uranium requirements of the nuclear powers , the Black Forest had been looking for uranium ores since the late 1940s. A publication by the President of the Geological State Office of Baden-Württemberg , Franz Kirchheimer , listed eleven uranium deposits examined by the State Office in 1957. As early as 1951, various media had reported on the uranium deposits in the Black Forest.

In May 1957 two geology students found uranium mica in the Krunkelbachtal northwest of Menzenschwand . They sold their knowledge of the previously unknown deposit to the Finstergrund trade union , which operated the mine of the same name in the Black Forest. In October 1957 , the Finstergrund union applied for a license , which it withdrew at the end of 1959 after disputes with state authorities. Instead, the trade union Brunhilde from Uetze in Lower Saxony became active, which had experience in uranium prospection and had had a test facility for uranium ore processing in Ellweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate since 1957 .

At the end of August 1960, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs granted the mining company permission to search for uranium in an 800 km² part of the southern Black Forest. During the prospecting work started in the same month, pieces of pitchblende were found in the moraine rubble of the Krunkelbach valley, while two uranium ore-containing passages in the rock could only be opened up after considerable difficulties in 1961. Starting in 1962, two tunnels were driven to investigate the deposit , which in mid-1963 reached a total length of 200 meters. In 1961 300 tons of uranium ore with a uranium content of 1.4% were mined (measured as uranium (V, VI) oxide U 3 O 8 ); 1962 1,500 tons with a U 3 O 8 content of 1.0%. The uranium ore was transported to Ellweiler and processed there to make Yellowcake . In the summer of 1963 six workers and two salaried employees worked in the Krunkelbachtal; another three employees of the Brunhilde union carried out prospecting work in the area.

Uranium mining and nature conservation

The prospecting work of the Brunhilde union led to considerable protests in Menzenschwand, as a result of which the work was banned in September 1963.

The legal basis of the prospecting work was the Baden Mining Act of 1947, according to which property owners had to tolerate prospecting, prospecting and extraction work. Accordingly, the municipality of Menzenschwand accepted the work in the Krunkelbachtal as the landowner, but prohibited blasting in 1961 , as a well for the local water supply was located near the prospect . When the well dried up in September 1962, the replacement water supply built by the Brunhilde union supplied water of inadequate quality. The Krunkelbach and the Menzenschwander Alb were polluted by muddy water from the mine. Citizens of Menzenschwander also complained about the noise and dust caused by the uranium ore transports and the damage to dirt roads .

In September 1962, a press release from the State Geological Office, according to which it would be "the largest uranium ore deposits in the whole of Germany", resulted in nationwide media reports. Concern about Menzenschwand's reputation as a tourist community grew in the local government, which had not yet been informed of the significance of the finds . In October 1962, the community summarized its arguments against uranium mining in a memorandum that was sent to the authorities and members of the state and federal parliament. In December 1962, the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg asked the state government to examine the effects of uranium mining and, if necessary, to compensate for any damage to the community and its residents. In September 1963, it was announced that the mine within the nature reserve Feldberg and not, as assumed by many, in the adjacent conservation area was "Bernauer and Menzenschwander Valley". On September 16, 1963, at the request of the Menzenschwand community , the St. Blasien district court issued an injunction prohibiting the Brunhilde union from continuing its work. The appeal of the union was rejected by the Freiburg Regional Court because the municipality had "made sufficiently credible" "that further prospecting work by the defendant on the municipality's own property [...] would lead to significant disadvantages for the municipality as the property owner."

A plan by the Brunhilde union from 1964 envisaged the construction of a production shaft about three kilometers north of the Krunkelbach valley, from which another uranium deposit, previously only proven above ground, was to be explored at the Farnwitte north of the Äulemer Kreuz . A siding to the Dreiseenbahn in Bärental was to be built from the conveyor shaft . The planning failed because the area around Bärental was provisionally designated as a landscape protection area in 1964 and finally in 1968.

Nature and homeland conservationists have been active against the uranium search in Menzenschwand since 1963. Fritz Hockenjos , chairman of the working group Heimatschutz Südbaden , spoke out against a mine in Menzenschwand in June 1963, referring to a campaign with which the merger of more than a dozen nature and homeland protection associations launched a dam project in the 1950s Wutachschlucht had prevented. In April 1966, Hockenjos, who was also the main nature conservation officer of the Black Forest Association , described Menzenschwand as "the most serious problem that preoccupies the Black Forest Association". Opponents of uranium mining also pointed out that the uranium concentrate produced in Ellweiler was about twice as expensive as what was bought on the world market. The investigation work in the Krunkelbachtal between 1960 and 1963 was subsidized by the federal government and the state with 600,000 DM .

Proponents of uranium mining referred to prognoses by Euratom , according to which a uranium shortage was to be expected in the mid-1970s and therefore considered further development and later mining of the Menzenschwander deposit to be necessary. In October 1963 , the Federal Ministry of Research under Hans Lenz advocated “ taking precautions for the point in time at which an international uranium shortage could arise by developing further uranium deposits”.

Within the state government of Baden-Württemberg there were different opinions about the continuation of the work in Menzenschwand. In December 1966, the Council of Ministers decided to have the exploration of the deposit examined by drilling . The Brunhilde trade union believed that drilling was technically possible, but not economically viable. The community of Menzenschwand rejected drilling by the mining company.

Radon spa plans

On the mediation of the publisher Franz Burda from Offenburg , the Innsbruck balneologist Ferdinand Scheminzky examined the water leaking from the mine tunnel in June 1970 and determined a high radon content and the fundamental suitability for balneotherapy use. Burda, who was a hunting tenant in Menzenschwand , stated at a meeting of the spa council in November 1970 that the results “could, if used correctly, become a 'gold mine' for Menzenschwand” and give the health resort a “tremendous boost”. Burda also announced that it would “support the community with advice and action - without any self-interest - in order to be able to realize this project”. After further investigations into the radon-containing water, the Menzenschwander municipal council approved the establishment of Heilbad Menzenschwand GmbH in July 1971 . The GmbH was 51% owned by the community and 49% owned by Burda; from March 1972 the share capital was 1.7 million DM.

While Burda and the municipality of Menzenschwand wanted to prevent uranium mining with their plans for a radon bath, the state government and the Brunhilde trade union saw the possibility of operating the bath and continuing the prospecting at the same time, as well as resolving the longstanding conflict between the municipality and the mining company. In September 1972, the state government, the trade union and Kurbetriebs-GmbH concluded an agreement that allowed the mining company to mine 20,000 tons of uranium ore by the end of 1974. At the same time, the union waived a mining license from 1975. On the basis of the agreement, the mining company continued to drive the two existing tunnels, sank a blind shaft and dug two more levels at a depth of 30 and 60 meters . By the end of 1974, at 2,600 tons, far less uranium ore was produced than provided for in the agreement.

In the summer of 1971, Kurbetriebs-GmbH commissioned the Frankfurt architecture firm Speerplan under Albert Speer junior and the landscape architect Günther Grzimek to draw up land use , green and landscape plans. The 1973 plans provided for the construction of a spa area west of Menzenschwand, which consisted of nine hotels with 1,800 beds, a spa center, a spa hall , a swimming pool and an outdoor pool; a total of 150 million DM should be invested.

The dimension of the planning met with criticism from nature conservation authorities and associations; the latter also criticized the planned rapid implementation, which they described as undemocratic. For Fritz Hockenjos, meanwhile president of the Black Forest Association, “the spa was not part of the village, but the village with its people was just an appendage, the valley the frame of the 'spa of high exclusivity'”. The criticism was taken up by Menzenschwander municipal councils; At the end of May 1973, Franz Burda also distanced himself from the planning and two months later ordered the planning to be discontinued. The reason for Burda's change of heart is likely to have been the sharp rise in money market rates . A reduced plan failed because the Menzenschwander municipal council rejected the necessary development plan in June 1974 . As a result, Kurbetriebs-GmbH went bankrupt , which had taken out loans of over DM 5.5 million.

After the 1973 oil crisis , the federal and state governments were increasingly interested in establishing an "emergency reserve" and exploring the Menzenschwander uranium deposit. At the same time, the local protests subsided after Menzenschwand was incorporated into St. Blasien in 1974 as part of the territorial reform . The mining company was able to invoke a passport, according to which the state government should consider resuming the investigation work if the spa plans fail. The authorities initially tolerated continued operation of the mine until it was closed on October 9, 1975 due to a lack of an exemption under nature conservation law. In December 1975, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economics signed a concession contract for prospecting, which formed the legal basis for operating the mine until it was closed. An exemption under nature conservation law is not required because the work will take place underground. Nature conservation associations were mistaken and referred to a written promise to the contrary by Prime Minister Filbinger from May 1973.

In 1976 and 1977, in the Krunkelbachtal mine, investigation stretches were driven on the floor at a depth of 60 meters, which exposed only small amounts of minable uranium ore. From the spring of 1976, uranium ore was mined in a tunnel that was already known in the 1960s in order to be able to use the resulting cavity for offset storage . The Brunhilde trade union had justified a corresponding operating plan with the fact that the construction of heaps above ground was not possible due to nature conservation requirements . The tunnel mouth hole was rebuilt in concrete in June 1976 in accordance with an agreement with the nature conservation authority. Between July 1976 and February 1977 the blind shaft was sunk to 98 meters and a filling point was created on a new bottom at a depth of 90 meters. In early 1978 that gave State Mining Authority at the Nuclear Research Center Karlsruhe an expert valuation, which should examine the environmental impacts in the vicinity of a uranium mine. In the course of the report, between March and the end of 1978, 6,000 tons of uranium ore were mined in a "simulated mining" process.

Anti-nuclear movement

On July 28, 1978, the Freiburg Radiation Protection Working Group (AKS) filed a criminal complaint against the Brunhilde trade union “for endangering the public and the environment”. The AKS had previously measured the radioactivity of rock that came from the Krunkelbach mine and was used as deaf rock for road construction work. According to a self-portrayal, the AKS counted itself to the anti-nuclear power movement, its members had previously been active in the citizens' initiatives against the nuclear power plants Wyhl and Fessenheim . Measurements by the State Institute for Environmental Protection confirmed the measured values ​​of the AKS; Whether the radioactive rock posed a threat to the population remained controversial among the state authorities.

With the measurements of the AKS, the question of the radiological effects of uranium mining became the focus of public debate for the first time. Traditional nature conservation associations such as the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND), the Black Forest Association or the State Nature Conservation Association no longer criticized mining in the Krunkelbachtal solely from the point of view of landscape protection, but also as the first link in an "atomic energy chain". At the same time, the associations distanced themselves from the AKS, which was considered to be radical.

On January 29, 1980, the Brunhilde trade union submitted an application for a mining concession, which probably remained unprocessed for two years as a result of differences within the authorities. The state government officially advocated an " in-situ concept " according to which the deposit should be explored and remain in the mountain as a reserve for times of emergency. On January 4, 1982, the mining company renewed its application on the basis of the Federal Mining Act that came into force at the beginning of the year . According to the application, no further facilities were required. Environmentalists saw their fears confirmed: “For years we were put off with the prospect. Now everything is suddenly available for dismantling, ”said the BUND state manager to the weekly newspaper Die Zeit . In June 1982 the local council of Menzenschwand, the city council of St. Blasien and the district council of Waldshut spoke out against uranium mining in the Krunkelbachtal.

On June 23, 1983, the Baden-Württemberg state government decided not to give the Brunhilde union a dismantling permit; In addition, the prospecting license, which expired at the end of 1984, should not be extended. The mining company brought an action against a corresponding decision from the State Mining Authority, which was dismissed on November 13, 1984 by the Freiburg Administrative Court. The company appealed against this to the Mannheim Administrative Court ; the prospecting permit, which expired at the end of the year, was extended by two years in order to avoid imminent claims for damages. On June 9, 1988, the Administrative Court upheld the Brunhilde union's claim to mine uranium in the Krunkelbachtal. The state and the city of St. Blasien appealed against the judgment to the Federal Administrative Court .

In parallel with the legal proceedings, the mining company continued to expand the mine. After the deposits on the bed at a depth of 90 meters were largely dismantled in the early 1980s, the blind shaft was sunk to 240 meters by 1984. In anticipation of a mining permit, an ore was prepared from newly laid floors at a depth of up to 180 meters . From 1986, stretches were driven on the bed at a depth of 240 meters and caverns were created, from which the deposit was examined with core drillings down to a depth of 300 meters. To reduce radon outgassing, renovation work was carried out in the higher levels from 1984 onwards, during which remaining ore residues were mined and old mining areas were backfilled. The mining company also described the mining of ores in the ridge joint between the floors at a depth of 90 and 240 meters , which began in 1987, as renovation work . The majority of the ores remained underground.

Shutdown

In May 1989 the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs confirmed that the Brunhilde union wanted to stop uranium mining in 1990. The reasons given were economic considerations, the long legal battle and the general situation of the nuclear industry. The uranium price had fallen sharply since the mid-1970s; In addition, the company threatened to close its own processing plant in Ellweiler. On September 7, 1989, the state government and the mining company signed a settlement that ended the proceedings pending before the Federal Administrative Court.

Part of the comparison was the extraction of the uranium ore that had been shot but still in the mine, which the Brunhilde union had transported to Mydlovary in Czechoslovakia for processing . At the beginning of 1990, the mining company ran into financial difficulties, which were triggered, among other things, by the fact that 2.7 million DM of public funding had to be repaid. This was a result of the comparison with the country, which made it clear that the operation in the Krunkelbachtal was not just about investigations, but about mining. In September 1990, the State Mining Authority took over the pit Krunkelbachtal, as a result of unpaid bills, a flow valve and the flooding of the mine threat. In August 1991 bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against the Brunhilde union .

Between February and July 1991, under the direction of the State Mining Office, almost 5,500 tons of uranium ore were mined and transported to Bessines-sur-Gartempe for processing by the French company Cogema . On August 21, 1991, the last pump in the pit was shut down; the flooding of the mine was accompanied by a radioactivity measurement program by the State Agency for Environmental Protection. The premises were renatured by mid-1992 ; In October 1992, the mine was released from the mining authority. The shutdown cost the country DM 4.5 million; This contrasted with income of 2.5 million DM from the sale of the uranium ore. A total of around 100,000 tons of uranium ore with a uranium content of 0.72% were mined in the Krunkelbach mine; this involved driving around 4,300 meters on nine levels. In its final report, the mining company put the safe reserves remaining in the pit at 227 tons of U 3 O 8 , the probable 2,000 tons and the possible 4,000 tons. An economical operation was never possible; In the last operating phase, the framework conditions had deteriorated due to the growing resistance to nuclear energy and the oversupply of nuclear fuel rods on the world market, according to the operator.

Krunkelbach as a type locality

Fluorescent uranocircite from the Krunkelbach mine in the St. Blasien Museum

In total, around 150 minerals or their varieties have been discovered in this deposit so far (as of 2018) . For 8 minerals , Krunkelbach is also considered a type locality :

Other mineral discoveries include Autunit , Becquerelit , Clausthalit , Digenite , electrum , Famatinit , goethite , Halotrichit , illite , Klockmannit , Luzonit , malachite , nontronite , Pyrolusit , quartz , rutherfordine , Saléeit , Tennantit , uraninite , Vanmeersscheit , Wölsendorfit , Yarrowit and Zeunerit .

Radon bath

Radon bath in Menzenschwand.

In the mid-1990s, local politicians took up the idea of ​​a radon bath in Menzenschwand again. In September 1995, a continuous pumping attempt was made at a well built in 1971 near the former mine site, which again produced water containing radon. In April 1998 the city and local council voted for a project that was reduced in size the following year for cost reasons: a small spa center was planned in which the radon-containing water was to be used in particular for pain therapy for joint diseases . As of November 2000, another 240 meter deep well was drilled to pump water from the deepest floor of the mine. In October 2005 the Radon Revital Bad was opened as the first radon bath in the Black Forest. Silent partners contributed 640,000 euros to the financing of the 6.1 million euro project . The pool, which was built on the outskirts of Menzenschwander Hinterdorf, consists of a hall with a total of 240 m² of water, medical treatment rooms and a sauna . The Radon Revital Bad was designed by the architects Sacker Architekten in Freiburg and won, among other things, the bronze medal of the International Olympic Committee (IOC / IAKS Award 2007), an international architecture prize for sports and leisure facilities.

literature

  • Armin Simon: The dispute over the Black Forest uranium. The dispute over uranium mining in Menzenschwand in the southern Black Forest 1960–1991. (= Everyday life & province , volume 11) Ed. Arbeitskreis Regionalgeschichte Freiburg eV Donzelli-Kluckert Verlag, Bremgarten 2003, ISBN 3-933284-11-2 .
  • Helge Steen: History of modern mining in the Black Forest. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2004, ISBN 3-8334-1653-X .
  • Gregor Markl, Stephan Wolfsried: The uranium from Menzenschwand. History · Deposit · Minerals. Christian Weise, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-921656-77-8 .

Web links

Commons : Minerals of Krunkelbach Mine  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Named after the long-time owner of the Brunhilde trade union , Hans Paul. See Simon, Streit , p. 168.
  2. ↑ Simon, Quarrel ; P. 15ff. For press reports see uranium in the rock . In: Der Spiegel . No. 33 , 1951 ( online ).
  3. ↑ Steen, Geschichte , p. 369f.
  4. ↑ Steen, Geschichte , p. 370ff.
  5. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 37ff.
  6. ↑ Quoted in Simon, Streit , p. 43.
  7. ^ Judgment of the Freiburg Regional Court of October 11, 1963, quoted in Simon, Streit , p. 75.
  8. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 98ff. Location of the planned shaft: 47 ° 51 ′ 46 ″  N , 8 ° 3 ′ 58 ″  E
  9. ↑ quoted in Simon, Streit , p. 91.
  10. ↑ Numbers in Simon, Streit , p. 83f.
  11. ^ Letter from the Federal Ministry for Scientific Research to the Oberbergamt Freiburg on October 25, 1963, quoted in Simon, Streit , p. 78.
  12. ↑ Simon, Streit , pp. 100, 106.
  13. ↑ Minutes of the Kurbeirat meeting of November 24, 1970, quoted in Simon, Streit , p. 116.
  14. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 116.
  15. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 123.
  16. ↑ Steen, Geschichte , pp. 374f.
  17. ↑ Published in: Kurbetrieb Menzenschwand GmbH (Hrsg.): Menzenschwand on the way to the radon spa. A documentation of the drafts, development measures and plans. Burda, Offenburg 1973.
  18. ↑ Simon, Streit , pp. 117, 125, 204. Location of the planned spa area: 47 ° 49 ′ 18 ″  N , 8 ° 3 ′ 54 ″  E
  19. ↑ writing Heckenjos the Menzenschwander mayor, quoted in Simon, armed , p 124ff.
  20. ↑ This assessment in Simon, Streit , p. 130.
  21. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 131ff.
  22. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 136.
  23. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 139.
  24. ↑ Steen, Geschichte , p. 377ff.
  25. ↑ Simon, Streit , pp. 140ff.
  26. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 143ff. See also: Radiant stones . In: Der Spiegel . No. 35 , 1978, pp. 18 ( online ).
  27. ↑ Simon, Streit , pp. 143, 160f.
  28. ^ Jörg Bischoff: New theater of war? In: The time . No. 19, 1982 ( online ). For the protests see also: Resist to the last . In: Der Spiegel . No. 49 , 1981, pp. 48 ( online ).
  29. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 168ff.
  30. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 180ff. See also: Search and Find . In: Der Spiegel . No. 53 , 1987, pp. 43 ( online ).
  31. ↑ Steen, Geschichte , p. 382ff.
  32. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 188.
  33. ↑ Simon, Streit , p. 192.
  34. ↑ Simon, Streit , pp. 193f.
  35. ↑ Markl, Uran , p. 26.
  36. ↑ Simon, Streit , pp. 194f.
  37. ↑ Steen, Geschichte , pp. 389f.
  38. ^ Mineralienatlas : uranium deposit in the Krunkelbachtal near Menzenschwand
  39. ↑ Simon, Streit , pp. 199ff.
  40. ↑ The history of the radon spa at radonrevitalbad.de
  41. ↑ Internationals Vereinigung Sport- und Freizeiteinrichtungen eV - IOC IAKS Award and IPC IAKS Award 2007