The Grjótárgöng tunnel is now being dug from both ends. The progress in week 21 was 39 metres which leaves 1243 metres to go before the two teams meet

Ágúst Geirsson witnessed a rare side the other day near the Fljótsdalur station. When he looked out the window he saw five reindeer brave the heavy currents of the Jökulsá river and swim across it.

Winter still reigns in the highland despite what the calendar says. The reservoir is still frosty although the temperatures have been rising these last days. These pictures were taken on the 23rd of May and show the icy conditions clearly.

Workers from the Icelandic contractor Hraunaveita finished concreting the floors in the Jökulsárgöng tunnel, with some 1200 cubic metres being used in the final push

Workers from the Icelandic contractor Hraunaveita finished concreting the floors in the Jökulsárgöng tunnel, with some 1200 cubic metres being used in the final push.

The water level at the Hálslón reservoir has dropped this winter by 26 metres, from 625 metres above sea level to 599 metres. About half of the water volume at the reservoir has therefore been used to produce electricity in the Fljótsdalur power station.

The first visitors at Végarður, the information centre for the Kárahnjúkar project were rather special. They all had four legs and horns and they arrived in a group of 25.

Week 18 saw yet another stretch of bad weather keeping the workers from getting to work.

Impregilo workers successfully transported the largest TBM components out of the tunnel despite often having only a few centimetres on each side.

The snow at the site makes things harder for the contractors and their workers. Concrete work inside the Jökulsárgöng tunnel had to be postponed because the gravel needed for the concrete production had run out and the gravel mine was covered in snow.

The last section of rock was blasted inside the Kelduárgöng in the east of mount Snæfell on Wednesday just after TBM 2 had finished its task.

Echoes of cheers and congratulations resounded through the cavern at the end of the Jökulsárgöng tunnel when TBM 2 finished a historical piece of work when it completed the drilling of the tunnels at Kárahnjúkar. The first TBM arrived at the site before Christmas 2003.

TBM 2 had just 225 metres to go in the Jökulsárgöng tunnel at the end of Easter week so it will not be long before it will push through. The conditions are favourable but the conveyors show some wear and tear so it is up to them when the milestone can be reached.

A crew from Impregilo is now hard at work taking the TBM apart. Last week some components of the machine were transported out of the tunnel.

TBM 2 did really well in the Jökulsárgöng tunnel in week 10, drilling some 214 metres in just four days, from the 3rd to the 6th or 39 to 63 metres per day.

Turbine 1 at the Fljótsdalur powerstation was again hooked up to the national grid on the 1st of February after it had been reconfigured in order for it to work as was first intended. This concludes the testing of the turbines and now all of them are ready for work.

TBM 2 drilled 670 metres last February. All in all it has drilled 7,6 kilometres or 90% of the Jökulsárgöng tunnel. Now the machine only has some 900 metres to go.

National Geographic magazine devotes 28 pages of the March edition to Iceland, with the main topic being the land, the people and the contradicting views that Icelanders have on Big Industry, the aluminium smelter at the Reydarfjörður fjord and the Kárahnjúkar plant.

The workers at Kárahnjúkar were blessed with decent weather for the second week running. Despite the temperature being below zero for the whole week and the occasional snow storm the weather was good compared to January and the beginning of February.

TBM 2 drilled some 130 metres last week, a length that has to be regarded as a pretty good achievement considering that the drill crews were unable to enter the tunnel because of bad weather twice this week.

Work at the Jökulsárveita divesion is in full swing again after slowing down for the last few weeks because the contractor ran into financial difficulties. The result was that a new company owned by Landsvirkjun has overtaken the project.

The winter conditions caused problems in week 5 with TBM 2 stalling for a whole day due to bad weather. The machine did alright on the other days of the week and drilled some 130 metres.

Hraunaveita ehf. a new subsidiary of Landsvirkjun has begun work at the Jökulsárveita diversion site to the east of mount Snæfell. The company took over the contracts held by Arnarfell and the majority of the Arnarfell employees are now working for the new company.

Blue and blinking lights are the standard fare on ambulances when there is an emergency. Judging by this picture however, this particular one came equipped with Aurora Borealis!

TBM 2 made good progress in the Jökulsárgöng tunnel drilling some 197 metres. Once it went 40 metres in a day and twice it went 35 metres. This is quite an achievement specially because delays due to rock reinforcement procedures and maintenance that occurred every day of the week

Landsvirkjun will overtake the contracts of the Icelandic contractor Arnarfell for the construction of the Hraunaveita diversion. A statement issued by Landsvirkjun last Thursday reads:

Landsvirkjun has revised is profitability assessment regarding Kárahnjúkar Power Plant, originally made at the end of 2002 when the decision was taken to enter into an agreement with Alcoa to build the hydroelectric installation.

TBM drilled 145 metres of the Jökulsárgöng tunnel in week 3, exactly the same distance and in the week before. The conditions are good and the going is good.

Conditions have called for time consuming rock reinforcements using shotcrete and steel resulting in slow progress for the machine. Drilling was exceptionally good last August and September but then worsening conditions slowed things down, especially in late November and December.