It is the largest clean-up of contaminated sites since Georgswerder (1985 to 1995) and the Bille clean-up (until 1997): The Ministry of Environment and Health has now begun the 17 million euro clean-up of Grasbrook in HafenCity.
The HE-TS 18 truck scales were rented out by ESSMANN | Waagen & Automation for the duration of the refurbishment work
Where thousands of people will soon be living in the Überseequartier at Magdeburger Hafen, the soil is still contaminated today. Tar oils, benzene and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are poisoning almost seven hectares of soil on the former site of Hamburg’s oldest gasworks. The Grasbrook gasworks was built in 1844 and was in operation for around 130 years until 1976. The harmful PAHs are produced during incomplete combustion processes, for example of wood and coal in the former coking plant.
The construction workers have to excavate around 200,000 cubic meters of soil to a depth of four meters.
The contaminated soil will then either be cleaned in an incineration plant in Bremen and reused for road construction, for example, or stored in landfill sites in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
10,000 truckloads are expected to be removed.
HE-TS 18 truck scales in use during the renovation of the old gasworks site in the port of Hamburg
The safety precautions are high. The trucks have to pass through a tire washing system and are weighed on a truck scale from ESSMANN | Waagen & Automation before they leave the area.
After all, the toxic substances should not be spread all over the city.
The workers have to pass through an airlock each time, change their clothes and take a shower.
Smoking and eating are strictly prohibited on the site.
The chemicals are not the only danger: the formerly important industrial area was heavily bombed during the great firestorm in July 1943. And there are still unexploded bombs and shells in the ground. The aerial photographs show 25 impacts,” says Volker Dumann. Employees of the explosive ordnance disposal service are therefore constantly on site. Dumann: “Every excavator shovel is carefully inspected. The remediation work should be completed in spring 2005. Time is short: the first construction phase in Überseequartier is due to be completed four years later.
Source: “Hamburger Abendblatt from Sat./Sun. 24/25.01.2004 – www.abendblatt.de
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ESSMANN HE-TS mobile truck scales in use
