White Sea of Dzerzhinsk. When will the “White Sea Sludge Lake” disappear in Dzerzhinsk
In order to see the salt lakes, you don’t have to go to Bolivia or the Astrakhan region. It is enough to come to the small village of Igumnovo, which is near Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region. It is near it, just one kilometer away, that the largest slurry reservoir in Russia and Europe is located, “The White Sea,” as it is popularly called. Here, on an area of 92 hectares, according to various estimates, from two to seven million tons of waste, mainly chemical, are stored. I suggest that lovers of technogen and post-apocalypse take a short walk along it.
But first, I want to correct myself a little and say that about “the dirtiest river in the world,” which is called and about which I already wrote, is located right here, and not in the place that I described in the last post. It just flows out of the White Sea. Here she is 
Next to all these “beauties” is the village of Igumnovo, which I will write about separately a little later. Imagine, it is located between the “White Sea”, Volosynikha, “Black Hole” and the Igumnovskaya solid waste landfill (one of the largest in Europe!) - you won’t envy it... 
The sludge storage tank itself was put into operation in December 1973 and is intended for storing sludge produced by the state enterprise Kaprolaktam plant. The area of the sludge storage area is 92 hectares. The height of the dam is 7.5-8.0 meters. Useful design capacity - 4.13 million cubic meters. meters. Currently, the sludge storage tank is 97% full, and 93% of its waste volume was generated in Soviet time. The sludge storage facility has been part of SIBUR-Neftekhim since 2001. SIBUR received the White Sea waste as an “inheritance” along with the production facilities of the former Caprolactam plant. Now, as I understand from the news, it is on the balance sheet of Dzerzhinsk.
Getting to the sludge dump site is very easy. All that is there is an open barrier and the sign “Transmission prohibited.” Well, we’re not driving, we’re walking. 
Along the way you can see water discharges from production, they flow like a clear mountain stream straight into Volosyanikha 
Volosyanikha herself has her own “pond”. Space landscapes 
The dam is closer 
After walking a little more, you can see a plastic guard in a booth. One must be afraid here, first of all, of dogs, whose traces are everywhere here. Although I didn't come across any. 
There is also some kind of landfill formed near the sludge settling tank. Overall - beauty 
Lakes and Volosyanikha behind the ramparts of the "White Sea" 
As I understand it, today the White Sea sludge storage tank is used for its intended purpose. SIBUR and its subsidiary SIBUR-Neftekhim, which directly operates this engineering structure, maintain its technical condition in full compliance with the requirements. 
Small aspen and birch trees are gradually growing almost everywhere in the area. 
Shaft 
Dog tracks are common here, but sometimes wild boar tracks are also found. 
The cost of mothballing the White Sea slurry reservoir in the industrial zone of the city of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region will be about 1 billion rubles, said Sergei Khlopov, general director of Sibur-Neftekhim OJSC.
In June 2011, Dmitry Medvedev set the task for Sibur-Neftekhim OJSC to gradually liquidate the White Sea slurry reservoir on the territory of the Kaprolaktam plant. According to Khlopov, the sludge reservoir currently occupies an area of about 55 hectares and contains about 4 million cubic meters. m of sludge, which is a paste consisting of 50% water, and the rest from calcium and magnesium carbonates, which remain after the use of substances in the electrolysis process.
Three options for solving the sludge reservoir problem were considered. “It’s processing it into something, transporting it somewhere or canning it locally to minimize harm,” Khlopov said. According to experts, the first two options are much worse from an economic point of view.
Conservation will include removing sludge deposits from the area adjacent to the storage tank, leveling its surface, creating a drainage system and creating a vegetation cover at the final stage of work. The work is expected to last four years and will begin after the completion of state and environmental examinations, which are planned to be completed by the end of 2012.
In general, it’s better to read more about the conservation situation and who is responsible for it on the Internet, in particular, I haven’t been very involved in this issue 
By the way, do you see that dark patch of forest near the horizon? This is the high bank of the Oka, where we all get our water from... 
Here's some information from environmentalists:
"The chemical plant "Caprolactam" (military chemical plant No. 96) in Dzerzhinsk in 1939-1959 produced highly toxic chemical warfare agents - mustard gas and lewisite. Waste of this hazardous production, as well as all defective products were dumped into the lowlands near the plant. This wild dump was turned into a more or less tolerable “landfill” only in 1973. However, at the time of converting the landfill into a so-called landfill, no one was going to cover its bottom and side walls with clay. So she was in highest degree dangerous for people always and will remain so forever. If it is not liquidated according to all the rules. And SIBUR, which received the Caprolactam plant practically for nothing, most likely did not know about this at the time of the “purchase”. And now he doesn’t know how to get out of the situation he’s gotten himself into.
Here is what is written about the history of the issue in L. Fedorov’s book “Chemical weapons - a war with one’s own people. The tragic Russian experience” (2009):
"... during the war years, the special landfill ("liternaya") of plant No. 96, located in the terrain above Volosyanikha, had neither a fence nor identification marks. Waste from special production was dumped into this landfill without degassing. When the wind changed, the "breath" of the landfill was felt nearby workshops and buildings, and this situation remained for many years. The impact of that landfill on the Oka and Volosyanikha rivers was not studied.
As of 1963, the issue of recycling such a group of waste from chemical enterprises as solid bottoms, sludge, and spent catalysts had not been resolved. In those years, solid waste was stored on dumps organized inside industrial sites, and sludge was sent to sludge storage tanks (mostly). All this was not regulated by sanitary rules.
The issue of organized disposal of solid industrial waste in the soil in the Dzerzhinsk region has always been complicated: the soil in those parts is sandy, karst phenomena are characteristic of those places, and the city’s water supply is groundwater. Therefore, each plant alone solved the problems of solid waste disposal. Accordingly, information about the disposal of solid industrial waste in and around plants No. 96, No. 148 and ChKhZ is insignificant. Although any resident of the city will willingly show where the “White Sea” is located (the sludge storage tank of plant No. 96, where the waste from mustard gas production was received)..."
A year ago, during the highest visit of the current Prime Lawyer to Dzerzhinsk, not a word was said about the toxic waste from mustard and lewisite production being located in the White Sea. Everyone was very polite. To this day, all the bosses and the obedient press pretend that they are not in the know. And in recent weeks, the authorities have decided to commit an environmental crime. As is known, accumulated environmental damage, existing in the form of landfills, is eliminated in three stages: first, reclamation occurs, then sanitation and then rehabilitation. Only after this can the treated area of land be considered safe for people. As we see, our bosses, in collusion with SIBUR (known for its noisy chatter about love for the environment), decided not to do anything at all - not even reclamation. A lot of money will be needed for the environmentally sound liquidation of the “White Sea” in Dzerzhinsk, but little will be stolen."
But still, I hope that the authorities and residents will still be able to resolve this extremely difficult issue, but for now, as far as I can see, nature itself is taking its toll... 
"White Sea" is a sludge reservoir of the former Caprolactam plant.
Commissioning date: December 1973
Purpose - storage of industrial sludge.
Useful design capacity - 4.13 million cubic meters. m;
Filled - 3.928 million cubic meters. (99.5% of the waste volume was generated in Soviet times);
Sludge storage area - 92.0 hectares;
Dam height - (7.5-8.0) m;
Closing date - March 2013
It stores waste residues of various salts, which determine the steel-gray appearance of the surface.
1. General form to the drive. Its area is not small, to be sure.
aerial view. The photo was taken by a bear who was shown this location once. Please note that 3 years ago the water was clearly visible. now it's dry.
2. Well, this heavenly office pleased us with a beautiful sky just before leaving. 
3. Pipe with bridges. At first the pipe ended at that hillock. Over time, the pipe was extended further and further. It can be seen that the surface is overgrown - and very actively. 
4. A local area where all the sprouted birch trees have dried out. It is difficult to say the reason - because they sprouted there. 
5. The end of that same pipe. 
6. An incomprehensible structure made of iron and thick logs, wrapped in rope. 
7. Loop 
8. And this is a kilometer from the White Sea - judging by the sight and smell - some petroleum products were dumped here en masse. 
9. Passage is prohibited. 
10. Villa on the eastern shore of the sea. There is a similar thing with photo No. 6. All the growth is already overgrowing the surface. 
11. Pond between the sea and the plant. In all likelihood, it was used as a water storage tank for technical needs. 
12. And life goes on. 
13. And even on this basis. The trees stubbornly germinate. A little further away there was real undergrowth, through which we had to fight our way. 
14. The promised apple tree on the White Sea dam. Apples are very tasty. 
Now the fate of this object is being decided. Several liquidation projects have been put forward, but so far contractors are suing for the right to own a huge contract. If everything goes smoothly, work will begin this fall.
And my personal opinion.
I believe that the hype around the White Sea is artificially inflated. It just so happens that it benefits everyone. It does not cause any particular harm, the money for its elimination is fantastic (about 1 billion rubles), environmentalists receive money and grants, the wheel turns, everyone is happy with everything. And the fact that there is regular dust and phenolic pollution in the air of the city is not a fertile topic. Nobody gives a fuck about this.
We visited this interesting and little-known place in our region, which is located near Dzerzhinsk next to the village of Igumnovo.
02.
You can view the interactive map
Some information from Wikipedia:
Sludge storage tank at the SIBUR-Neftekhim plant (formerly Caprolactam).
Commissioning date: December 1973;
Purpose – storage of sludge produced by the state-owned enterprise Kaprolaktam plant;
Useful design capacity – 4.13 million cubic meters. m;
Filled - 3.928 million cubic meters. (99.5% of the waste volume was generated in Soviet times);
Sludge storage area – 92.0 ha;
Dam height – (7.5-8.0) m;
On the weekend, having gathered in Nizhny and loaded into the car, we moved towards Dzerzhinsk, having in stock rough plan and mobile phones with maps of the area.
Before reaching Dzerzhinsk we turned around, crossed the railway tracks and went to reverse side along Sibur-Neftekhim. We needed to go around it in a circle, because... the slurry tank is located behind huge territory plant From the asphalt road you need to turn right in the village of Igumnovo (we did this a little earlier than necessary and therefore had a long drive along not the smoothest forest roads), drive through it and drive out to the lakes, which are located around the sludge reservoir. On the way we met local guys who explained that this towering plateau (as it turned out - a dam about 8m high) is the “White Sea”, and The best way to get there is to walk through a narrow pipe about 10 meters above the “river”, which acts as a ditch in front of the sludge storage dam. Upon closer inspection, it didn’t look much like a river; rather, it was a liquid strip of waste, covered with a green-black mass of incomprehensible consistency. Having thrown a stone there, the mass made a hole and, with a disgusting squelch, splashed in different directions with something completely black, similar to either oil or petroleum. The crossing over this ditch turned out to be not a pipe, but an ancient metal non-functioning conduit for the power line standing next door (by the way, you can use the power line tower to navigate to the place where you can go to the “White Sea”) - rusty and not particularly reliable in appearance. The prospect of falling into a sludge of unknown origin did not warm me, so the passage through this conduit was perhaps the most unpleasant moment of the entire trip.
03. The sludge storage area is huge.
04. Somewhere trees have already grown.
06. A long pipe, about half a kilometer, goes to the center of the slurry reservoir.
08. Almost nothing grows around it; it feels like the soil around the pipe is more poisonous.
11. In spots you can find red moss or bright blue earth.
13. The sludge is fragile and practically crumbles in your hands.
15. The surface under your feet collapses, scattering beautiful dust from under your feet.
16. In the center of this sludge reservoir plateau there is a whole large lake. It looks like even with fish, because... a bunch of birds were seen.
17. It looked like a beautiful beach, if not for the mud that spread underfoot.
18. The closer to the water, the more you fall through.
19. An incomprehensible building on the other side.
20. A bird with something stuck to its paws.
21. There are a lot of fish and bird bones and feathers everywhere. It looks creepy.
22. s1rus
23. The surface is very heterogeneous. In some places it is harder, in others it is even like oil, very slippery.
26. Traces of some animals were noticed.
27. The sneakers were a little damaged.
29. Real desert.
31. A stream of waste that feeds the lake.
33. And again Andrey.
34. Something similar to whitewash.
35. At one point, a large chimney at the plant emitted several clouds of acrid black smoke.
37. And here is the drain of the pipe, from here everything spreads throughout the rest of the slag storage tank.
39. There is scorched earth around the pipe.
43. These are the trees.
46. And these lakes are already outside the territory of the slag dump.
47. From a distance it looks nice, but in reality it’s the same oily dirt and heaps of garbage.
That's all for today. I hope to be able to visit some more unusual places like this in the near future.
This photo report is dedicated to the place where I never want to go again. Memories of him are like a bad dream that you want to forget as soon as possible. This is the White Sea. No, not what washes the northern shores of our continent! This is also called a sludge accumulator, and in simple language- a stinking place of immense size, spread over an area, according to various sources, from 50 to 92 hectares near the city of Dzerzhinsk.
This is what the White Sea looks like from a satellite. At the same time, you can follow the map on how to get there. Nearest locality- Igumnovo village.
What does it really look like?
A lifeless desert, as if scorched by the sun, with stunted bushes of grass and low trees, as if in the tundra. The soil is loose - you walk and fall through. Not much, about the depth of the sole, but still the feeling is not pleasant - every time you are tormented by a vague premonition that you might fall into the void. In some places there are traces of some kind of wheeled equipment - apparently, someone was riding an ATV.
When shooting with a fish-eye lens, you get the impression that you are on another planet - similar to the earth, but completely lifeless, as if some kind of man-made disaster had happened on it or all living organisms had been affected by some kind of virus. All that remains are half-withered plants and long-abandoned man-made structures. And on the horizon there are factories, factories, factories - also abandoned. The first thing that comes to mind when you see this landscape is the planet Plyuk from Georgy Danelia’s film “Kin-dza-dza”
Post-apocalyptic landscape. There's not enough pepelats in the sky :)
During the rains, puddles appear in the White Sea, but this is no longer water, but a solution of pesticides.
The type of water attracts waterfowl - gulls, ducks. They sit on it, dive and... there was a bird and after some time there is no bird - the shores of the “White Sea” are strewn with the corpses of seagulls and ducks.
As you approach the water, the soil under your feet becomes very treacherous. While you stand motionless, nothing happens, but as soon as you walk, your legs begin to get sucked into a quagmire! Let's not tempt fate, let's go closer to the shore out of harm's way - we wouldn't want to drown in SUCH a place!
While I was taking this shot, I drowned in 5 seconds almost up to my ankles
We walked around the entire perimeter of the White Sea, it took about 2 hours including photography. The sludge reservoir is surrounded by an earthen rampart about 8 meters high, and we walked along it. On the other side of the shaft there are often streams and small lakes. In lakes the water is clear and the bottom is visible; apparently, no algae can withstand such an aggressive environment.
And the White Sea is also skirted by the very “fragrant” Volosyanikha River, which, winding for a long time, flows into the Gnilichka River, which, in turn, flows into the Oka near the beach of Striginsky Bor - a favorite vacation spot for car manufacturers. Sewage treatment plants? No, we haven't! Of course, I have heard many times that the Dzerzhinsky factories pollute the Oka, but now I am clearly convinced of this. Now I personally have lost all desire to swim in the Oka! And buy dried fish caught in the Oka.
And right next to the White Sea there is a fairly large lake - a former quarry from which sand was extracted for the construction of an embankment. The lake is very popular among Igumnovsky fishermen.
The fish that live in this lake, presumably, are also thoroughly saturated with chemical rubbish, but this does not stop anyone. They catch it for themselves and, probably, for sale in dried form.
Another sad fact - just 800 meters from the White Sea there is a fairly large village of Igumnovo, where people live and are not particularly “worried” about the proximity to this disastrous place - vegetables and potatoes are grown in the gardens, fish are caught in the lake, in the copses mushrooms are collected. Despite the fact that anyone understands that groundwater contains many “additives” that do not add health.
This is how the story turned out. But the saddest thing is that the White Sea is not the only “stinker” in the area. There is also the “Black Hole” - a karst lake into which liquid waste from the Plexiglas plant is poured. If the sludge reservoir is at least somehow isolated from environment- there is a clay bedding and embankment, then water from the Black Hole, saturated with not the best part of the periodic table, slowly seeps into the ground through karst passages. Underground rivers of groundwater also flow towards the Oka and fill wells and boreholes in Petryaevka, Kolodkino, Babino. They also say that if they raise the water level at the Cheboksary hydroelectric station, the groundwater will also rise and carry this chemical crap en masse into all nearby bodies of water - lakes and rivers, and this is already an environmental disaster!
Artem Kashkanov
Photographer, webmaster, teacher, freelancer. I love traveling by car and more. I also love mountain biking, saunas, fishing, and mushroom picking.
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..3
Chapter 1. Theoretical aspects of a sludge reservoir as an environmentally hazardous object in the Nizhny Novgorod region………………………………….5
1.1. History of the White Sea slurry reservoir………………5
1.2. Contents of the “White Sea”……………………………………………7
…………………………………8
2.1. Proposals for the phased conservation of the “White Sea” slurry reservoir……………………………………………………………………………………………...8
2.2. The economic aspect of the liquidation of the “White Sea”……………………12
2.3. Expected result…………………………………………………….14
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….15
List of references………………………………………………………...17
Applications………………………………………………………………………………...18
Introduction
My native country is wide, there are many forests, rivers, lakes and seas in it. However, not all seas evoke delight, tenderness and joy. For example, “White Sea” in the city of Dzerzhinsk. The city of Dzerzhinsk is one of the centers of the chemical industry, with more than 30 industrial enterprises.
Our miracle worker, chemistry, produces all sorts of products: mineral fertilizers, caprolactam, plastics, pesticides, fatty alcohols and much more. And all this in one city, which has essentially been turned into a complete industrial site.
During the Great Patriotic War in Dzerzhinsk they produced explosives, bombs, and aerial shells, and chemical waste was dumped nearby.
The most polluted areas of the city are villages located in the zone of influence of the eastern group of enterprises, which make a significantly large contribution to soil pollution.
It is in Dzerzhinsk that the largest sludge dump in Russia and Europe is located, “White Sea”, located just 800 meters from the village of Igumnovo. According to various estimates, on an area of 92 hectares, from two to seven million tons of waste, including chemical, are stored.
The beauty here, of course, is monstrous: dazzling white sand, clear water. But what appears to be water is actually an alkaline solution. Environmentalists say that in the soil and water of the village of Igumnovo, excess concentrations of heavy metals were found: iron, cadmium, lead, mercury, copper.
The White Sea sludge storage tank was put into operation more than forty years ago and is currently 97% full. Since 2001, it has belonged to the Sibur-neftekhim enterprise, and is still used for its intended purpose. However, at present, waste discharges are quite insignificant compared to the Soviet period.
The purpose of the work is to consider the White Sea slurry reservoir as an environmentally hazardous object
Job objectives:
-Study the history of the sludge reservoir
-Analyze the composition of the “White Sea”
-Identify options for environmentally hazardous facilities
Chapter 1. Theoretical aspects of the White Sea slurry reservoir as an environmentally hazardous facility in the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region
1.1. The history of the White Sea slurry reservoir
Ecology for Dzerzhinsk is a point of conflict of interests and an unhealed ulcer. So old, so difficult to treat, that many leaders have simply learned to speculate on it, the way street beggars speculate on photographs of their sick children.
The place where Dzerzhinsk now stands has long been popularly called Chernorechye - a remote corner 40 kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod, a trade giant on the Volga. In the middle of the 19th century, they conducted railway, and from then on, production began to grow here, people from the villages flocked.
Soviet authority accelerated the industrial growth of Chernorechye, opening more and more factories, rebuilding the old ones. Thousands of peasants flocked to production: hunger was driving, and there was rationed bread at the factory.
In 1930, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, by its decision, approved the city of Dzerzhinsk on the map of the country, which occupied the area of many former Chernorechensk villages. Today, about 240 thousand people live in the city and its surroundings.
The 20th century, with its arms race, gave Dzerzhinsk fundamental importance for the country. During the war, a wide range of weapons were produced here - explosives, bombs, aircraft shells. Military chemicals, of course: phosgene, mustard gas, lewisite, chlorine, hydrocyanic acid. Each of the plants, in addition to products for the needs of the defense industry, also produced a significant amount of chemical waste.
As a rule, they were dumped nearby. Thus, in particular, the White Sea sludge storage facility was formed.
The White Sea sludge storage tank is a hydraulic structure built in 1973 for waste disposal chemical production. The object is a large artificial bowl, built in the ground and reinforced with a dam.
1.2. Contents of the "White Sea"
The White Sea contains about 7 million tons of chemical production waste, among which, environmentalists fear, there is first-class hazard waste. However, according to the official version, “the waste contained in the White Sea belongs to the fourth hazard class and is characterized as “low-hazard.”
Almost 60% of the total volume is water, the rest is non-toxic, low-hazard mixtures of insoluble salts, mainly carbonates.” (Annex 1)
Today the area of the sludge reservoir is 55 hectares, its depth is about 9 meters. The contents of the “White Sea” look like a white pasty mass with a yellowish tint, in some places liquid and in others almost frozen. The sludge tank is 97% full, of which 93% was filled back in Soviet times before the Kaprolactam plant was transferred to the ownership of Sibur-Neftekhim. The river is reliably protected from direct hits by a dam. Meanwhile, solid sludge undoubtedly poses a danger to the environment.
Chapter 2. Ways to eliminate the “White Sea”
2.1. Proposals for the phased conservation of the White Sea slurry reservoir
"White Sea" is a waste storage facility organized in an authorized manner. Despite the fact that the operating organization declares compliance with environmental requirements during its maintenance, the very fact of the existence of this object already poses an environmental hazard. Specialists from various departments and public ecologists have different assessments of the degree of its negative impact on the environment, from acceptable impacts to extremely dangerous ones. Some link the excesses chemical substances in groundwater with this object, others explain this by the total influence of enterprises in the industrial zone of Dzerzhinsk.
Representatives of SIBUR emphasized that, despite the fact that the White Sea was mostly filled back in Soviet years, the company does not shy away from participating in the fate of the sludge reservoir and is ready to finance work on its conservation or processing of sludge into construction products.
Currently, SIBUR is racking its brains over what to do with the White Sea: preserve it or recycle it? Three options for solving the problem of the sludge reservoir were considered: to recycle it into something, transport it somewhere, or preserve it on site to minimize harm. Both cost enormous amounts of money - we are talking about hundreds of millions of rubles. So the main direction in which both the plant and the Dzerzhinsk administration are working with full confidence, is the “demythologization of the White Sea object.”
Conservation will include removing sludge sediment from the area adjacent to the storage tank, leveling its surface, creating a drainage system and creating a vegetation cover at the final stage of work. The work is expected to last four years and should begin after the completion of state and environmental assessments.
But how can you think about money when we are talking about the ecology of the environment and the lives of people living in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
SIBUR is ready to consider both options. In particular, according to him, a conservation project has already been ordered, while a search is underway for ways to process sludge. Both options are costly, so for the company this is not a financial, but a reputational investment.
The obsolete chlorine production facilities of the former Caprolactam plant are gradually being closed and will be finally decommissioned. The production site with the existing infrastructure is being repurposed into the Oka-Polymer technology park, in which external residents are involved who plan to create and develop environmentally friendly business areas. According to the project, the White Sea sludge storage facility as a facility for the placement of liquids industrial waste will be eliminated through conservation. At the same time, it is necessary to carry out a set of measures to improve its environmental safety and minimize the impact on the environment. The facility will be freed from sludge water, the existing discharge pipeline for clarified sludge water will be dismantled. The supply of new waste will stop, the moisture content of the already accumulated sludge will be reduced to an average value of 45-55%, which will make it non-flowing.
The entire territory of the slurry reservoir will be penetrated by a network of earthen ramparts one meter high and three meters wide along the ridge. This will allow the “White Sea” to be divided into 12 compartments (maps) of 4-5 hectares each. A surface drainage system will be created - plastic perforated pipes with a diameter of 110 and 160 millimeters will be laid on the surface of the compartments (cards), which form reservoir drainage. Wells with shut-off valves will be built at the map nodes. Anti-landslide measures will also be carried out, the sludge storage dams will be strengthened, which will eliminate the possibility of a hydrodynamic accident occurring and developing. In addition, it is necessary to build an additional waterproofing screen, which will avoid the filtration of atmospheric precipitation into the body of the sludge reservoir. The technical stage of conservation will be completed by the biological one - biomats will be laid on the surface of the sludge reservoir over an area of 55 hectares, which will form a continuous green lawn. Upon completion of conservation, work will be carried out to control and monitor groundwater (level, qualitative composition), surface waters(from the drainage system) and vegetation (grass) cover.
Two alternative options for eliminating the White Sea - by processing the sludge or moving it to another place, according to experts, are currently more environmentally dangerous than the conservation option. To date, there are no technologies that can completely recycle the White Sea sludge.
For the waste remaining after partial processing, the construction of a new sludge storage facility would be required on an area of at least 7-8 hectares. In addition, the process of partial processing of sludge itself takes
less than 40 years would inevitably have a direct impact negative impact on the environment (emissions in atmospheric air, groundwater pollution).
The option of moving the White Sea waste to another location would require the construction of a new sludge storage facility on an area of at least 15 hectares.
2.2. Economic aspect of liquidation of the White Sea sludge storage pond
As Sergei Khlopov, General Director of Sibur-Neftekhim OJSC, said, the cost of mothballing the White Sea slurry reservoir in the industrial zone of the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region will be about 1 billion rubles.
In June 2011, Dmitry Medvedev, as president, set the task for Sibur-Neftekhim OJSC to gradually liquidate the White Sea slurry reservoir on the territory of the Kaprolaktam plant.
According to Deputy Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Vladimir Lebedev, the work will be financed from the federal and regional budgets, as well as from Sibur-Neftekhim.
As reported by the press service of the mayor's office of the city of Dzerzhinsk, Sibur-Neftekhim will transfer the White Sea slurry reservoir to the ownership of the administration of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region.
In the event of the earliest possible transfer of the sludge reservoir to municipal ownership, the Ministry natural resources and ecology of the Russian Federation guarantees the inclusion of the necessary amount of funds for its subsequent liquidation in the draft federal budget.
To resolve the important issue of eliminating the environmental damage accumulated during the Soviet era, Sibur announced the phased closure of chlorine production at the former Caprolactam plant.
The phased shutdown of facilities began in 2012 and will continue until it is fully implemented, which will allow the process of stopping production to be carried out as safely as possible. Closure measures will be implemented in close cooperation with the authorities of the Nizhny Novgorod region
region and Dzerzhinsk under the control of the regional department of Rostechnadzor.
Stopping chlorine production will lead to a complete cessation of discharges into the sludge reservoir, known among residents of the region as the “White Sea”. At the same time, Sibur, together with federal, regional and local authorities authorities will continue to work on conservation of the site.
Today, the White Sea slurry reservoir is used for its intended purpose. SIBUR and its subsidiary SIBUR-Neftekhim, which directly operates this engineering structure, maintain its technical condition in full compliance with the requirements of the project and BP Rules 03-438-02. Control over the operation of the sludge accumulator is carried out government bodies– Rostechnadzor, Rosprirodnadzor, Rospotrebnadzor.
2.3. Expected result after mothballing the White Sea
According to the rosy plans of the head of Dzerzhinsk for the reclamation of the White Sea sludge dump, famous throughout the region, a golf course can be built in its place in the city, for which it is necessary to remove upper layer soil and fill the sea with special materials.
The conservation of the landfill is planned to be completed by 2015, and now the authorities are considering projects to improve the area.
Infrastructure development should affect the entire industrial zone of the “city of chemists”. The Caprolactam plant ceases operations and an industrial park is formed on its premises.
According to Jurgen Tsigelsky, production director of the industrial park resident company, this site is suitable for them for production, since it is located close to the place where they will supply products and there will be no problems with labor and personnel.
Soon these workshops will produce components for foreign cars. Automotive components are planned to be supplied to car factories in Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga. Production should become another link in the regional automotive cluster. A petrochemical cluster will also be developed here. Currently, 10 companies have already signed a contract with the management of the industrial park, and another 70 are negotiating.
They decided to attract new investors here so that the base created decades ago would not go to waste. There are already all the necessary communications, gas and electricity - everything for new technologies to start working in the old workshops.
Conclusion
But independent environmentalists do not share the official optimism, since conservation means that the “White Sea” will remain on the territory of the urban district for an indefinite period, and in a potentially dangerous state for the environment. At the same time, a detailed assessment of the environmental impact of the mothballed sludge reservoir was not carried out at all. According to the executive director of the environmental organization “Vyunitsa” Vladimir Orekhov, only its impact on the environment during the construction of the sarcophagus was assessed, and even then a very limited composition of potential pollutants was studied. Film and biomats will indeed reduce the negative impact on the environment for some time, but it is very likely that after some time the planned protection will be destroyed.
This can be facilitated by the root system of trees, which quite possibly will grow there as a result of self-seeding, the passage of equipment and many other factors.
“Elimination through conservation,” according to Vyunitsa employees, is a deception of the public, creating in people the illusion of solving a problem that can cost us dearly.
It is environmental pollution that causes higher morbidity among city residents.*
Currently, control over the facility is carried out by the MBU " Ecological systems Dzerzhinsk" consisting of several people who take water samples. The distribution area of the pollution is 1.9 kilometers. It is known that the project to eliminate the sludge reservoir after eliminating all the comments working group will be sent for repeated state examination.
Experts, meanwhile, warn that it is practically impossible to determine the exact degree of environmental pollution and the damage caused to the city’s ecology.
Nizhny Novgorod public organization“The Center for Environmental Action “Green Patrol” proposed concluding an agreement on cooperation in the implementation of public control for the implementation of the Federal Target Program “Elimination of accumulated environmental damage for 2014 – 2015”
The liquidation of the White Sea slurry reservoir should be undertaken by SMP-Stroy LLC, which promises to complete the entire scope of work by November 30, 2015 for 830 million rubles.
The city authorities encourage everyone who is concerned about environmental safety issues to contact the reception.
Now there is increased attention to environmental issues in Dzerzhinsk, and this is good.
The need to maintain good health and high performance of city residents increases the requirements for environmental quality.
I, as a young resident of the city, am pleased that people are concerned about the environmental condition of the environment natural environment and ring all the bells for its improvement.
Bibliography.
1. Bylov A.M., Chernova N.I. “ General ecology» M.: Bustard, 2004
2. Mavrishchev S.S. “Fundamentals of Ecology” 3rd ed., Spanish. and additional - Minsk: graduate School, 2007
3. Pustovoitov V.V., Sitarov V.A. “Social ecology” M.: Publishing center “Academy”, 2000.
4. Razumova E.R. “Ecology” M.: MIEMP, 2010.
Internet resources:
www.gorky.tv
http://www.new chemistry .ru/letter.php?n
http://qotyda.ru/index.php/novosti/novosti biznesa i economiki/item/7163-2015-12-02%2018-15-37
http://zmdosie.ru/otkhody/situatsiya/5 00- dzerzhinsk-beloe-more
http://zmdosie.ru/otkhody/situatsiya/815-dzerzhinsk-obrastaet-svalkami
Annex 1
Fig. 1 Diagram of impurity content in the White Sea slurry reservoir
Related information.