NEL: Live from the track

Kassel. One of the largest natural gas pipelines in Europe stretching over 440 kilometers and with a capacity of around 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas is currently being built in northern Germany. From 2012 the North European Gas Pipeline (NEL) will transport natural gas from the Nord Stream Baltic Sea pipeline to customers in Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK. But how is a natural gas pipeline actually laid? How are the 18-meter-long and 1.4-meter-wide steel pipes welded together? How is a pipeline string measuring over a kilometer lowered into the pipe trench? How does the site management coordinate over 2,000 employees on one of the longest construction sites in Germany? And how is the construction site restored to its natural state so that any interference in the landscape and all signs of the work disappear?

Video journalist Volker Beifuss is regularly on the road between the Baltic Sea coast and Rehden in Lower Saxony gathering answers to these questions. His entertaining film reports are now available on a special channel on the Internet platform YouTube. While preparing his films Beifuss is in close contact with all those involved in the pipeline, including residents, construction workers, engineers, archeologists and other specialists, and reports directly on the colorful day-to-day life and fascinating challenges involved in building a natural gas pipeline. His most recent film shows the work of the explosive ordnance disposal team along the NEL track. More than 65 years after the end of the war, Burkhard Pohl from the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian munitions recovery service is safely removing old munitions from the ground and giving the green light for the pipeline’s construction section by section. 

The NEL webcast can be viewed at www.youtube.com/NELPipeline and www.nel-pipeline.de.