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Local News Summary of July, 20th

  • Infamous geothermal borehole to be opened – micro earthquakes possible
  • Fire at asylum accommodation in Dornach
  • Border guards arrest wanted burglary suspect

Infamous geothermal borehole to be opened – micro earthquakes possible

The infamous earthquake borehole which was created as part of a failed geothermal project is to be opened after the public health department of Basel-Stadt ordered a pressure-release.

“So far, everything is working fine, however small earthquakes are possible. Here, we have to create transparency,” the authorities responsible for the project said in a statement.

It was the big dream of energy pioneers in the last decade. Geothermal power (fracking) seemed to be the solution to supplying energy to many households and not just with a relatively small heat exchanger in the garden, but instead with a real, powerful, five-kilometre deep hole in the ground. It was built at the operation centre area of the power supply company Industrielle Werke Basel (IWB) in Kleinhüningen, celebrating future energy.

At the end of 2006, shortly after it began, the “Deep Heat Mining” project came to an abrupt end after traumatic earth tremors were felt by the population. In total, four artificially created earthquakes - with a magnitude of between 2.4 and 2.8 on the Richter Scale - terrified the public when their crockery began to shake. Of course, the project was abandoned. The risk was too high, and it was politically impossible to move even one finger towards its realisation. A consortium named Geopower which had dug the hole and planned to operate it was liquidated and it was sealed in 2011. But since then, pressure has emerged like a cork in a bottle of champagne.

Water already released, small tremors possible

In March this year the Public Health Department of Basel-Stadt ordered the opening of the seal step by step. The pressure had increased so much that it had started to bubble underground. Seismic measuring devices detected increasing tremors and the situation became tricky: What if there were more earthquakes in Basel because of the sealed hole? The verdict: The tap must be opened and the pressure must be released. On Wednesday, the department and the IWB presented their first results.

The opening of the seal is taking place under supervision; step by step, water pressure of 0.5 bars is released. The first 17.8 cubical metres have already gone, and this week, there will be a second release. The operation is tricky but is backed from all sides by experts. Nevertheless, the possibility of small earthquakes caused by the release of pressure have not been ruled out – even if it is not expected that the situation will get to that stage, said Philipp Hübner.

Tricky but manageable for IWB

In 2006, around 11,000 cubical metres of water were forced into the ground underneath Kleinhüningen with a pressure of 300 bar, in order to crack the rocks. During a regular operation which used less water, some evaporated through the earth's warmth and some led into a turbine. One part of this water has already flowed away and a small amount has been distributed. The largest volume however must now be released now by hand.

The IWB, which own the grounds, have taken responsibility for the project. Project manager Sascha Pfändler manages the operation, the Swiss Seismological Service meticulously supervises it, and the department is responsible for preventing accidents. It is the goal to release the entire pressure within the next 10 weeks, i.e. to reach 0 bar, said Pfändler.

The hole remains – what then?

This was the drilling tower back in 2006. The earthquakes ended the project. Copyright Keystone

So what happens then? The experts will take another look at the situation. In a second phase the borehole will be examined and, a lot later on, in a third phase, it will be secured for the long-term and may be used later. This is

because the hole will remain: filling it would be tricky due to its depth of 5000 metres and the massive pressure it contains. Nothing grows down there, of course. The hole reaches crystalline structures deep underneath Basel.

At least Basel now owns a massive drilled hole due to a failed geothermal mission and this could be fruitful for geoscience. Since it goes so deep, there is nowhere else in the Upper Rhine Plane where sensors can be fixed. Useable energy however would not be produced in the hole of misfortune – not even in the future.

Fire at asylum accommodation in Dornach

A fire at an asylum seeker accommodation centre in Dornach has made the building temporarily uninhabitable.

The fire broke out at the Gempenstrasse centre on Tuesday afternoon. Three people who were in the building at the time were able to escape. Nobody was injured. The fire fighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze.

According to initial investigations, a resident at the unit is likely to have been responsible for causing the fire, the Solothurn cantonal police reported on Wednesday.

The municipality of Dornach has re-located a total of 12 asylum seekers to other housing in the area. The police have so far been unable to estimate the cost of the damage.

Border guards arrest wanted burglary suspect

Swiss border guards have arrested a teenager who is wanted in connection with a number of burglaries. The 17-year-old Serbian national attracted the suspicion of border guards when he and a 14-year-old female companion could not produce personal identification on request. The teenagers have been handed over to the Baselland police.

The Swiss border guards had stopped and questioned the two youths several days ago near the final tram stop of the No 3 tram line at Birsfelden. Through questioning it emerged that neither of them was carrying any form of personal identification. They could only provide two tickets which proved that they had recently boarded the tram at Burgfelden Grenze.

The border guards at the scene discovered through clarifications that the 17-year-old was being sought for arrest by the youth attorney's office. They accuse him of a number of break-ins to properties in Bezirk Arlesheim. During a search of a rucksack carried by the youth, the police discovered a number of different items which could be used to commit break-ins. It was also revealed that a sock in a bag carried by the 14-year-old girl contained a quantity of Swiss money. Both youths were handed over to the Baselland police. The Baselland youth attorney's office has begun proceedings and the 17-year-old was taken into custody.