Analytical notes for decision-making on BPPM & the town of Baikalsk (by Siberian Scientists)
natural phenomenon, source of more than 20% of the planet’s surface fresh
water. On inclusion of Lake Baikal into the list of World Natural Heritage
Sites, the government of the Russian Federation was given special
recommendations by the UNESCO Committee: 1) irrevocable passing of a Federal
Law on Lake Baikal; 2) conversion of the Baikalsk PPM in such a way as to
liquidate it as a source of pollution; 3) reduction of the discharge of
pollutants into the river Selenga; 4) increase the resource capacity of
protected national parks and nature reserves adjacent to the lake; 5)
continuation of and further support to scientific research and monitoring at
Lake Baikal.
The peculiarity of the situation in the town of
severe economic condition that came about as a result of the ineffective
management of the Mill and its closure at the decision of its managing company
“Continental Management”, but also the considerable environmental
problems. In the present case, it is
just as important to take into account environmental factors in the knot of
problems of the town, as it is to consider the economic and social aspects.
The Russian Federal Decree № 1 “On amendments to the list of activities banned in the Central
Ecological Zone of the Lake Baikal Natural Territory,” of 13th
January 2010, has created a situation that permits the renewal of pulp
production with the discharge of waste waters into Lake Baikal and the
accumulation of all classes of dangerous waste on the shores of this unique
lake.
It is quite clear that any decision on the operations of the BPPM must
be accompanied by plans for the future of the town of
decision on the future of the town is as inadmissible as it is to make
ill-considered and scientifically unsound decisions. In accordance with the
obligations taken on itself by the Government of the
Federation
the Baikalsk Mill so that it ceases to be a source of pollution to
The words of Academician Nigmatulin, in
2009, were incorrectly interpreted as being an opinion as to the absence of
negative impact of the Baikalsk Mill on the ecosystem of
surrounding territories. In actual fact, scientists of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, first and foremost the Siberian Branch of RAS, have been undertaking
research for over 40 years that gives witness to the fact of the anthropogenic
impact of the Baikalsk PPM, gives grounds for middle-range and long-term forecasts
of the consequences of this impact, and also indicates the considerable
ecological risks of pulp and paper production.
The Chairman of the Scientific Council SB RAS on problems relating to
Lake Baikal, Academician Mikhail Kuzmin, spoke of the necessity for conversion
of the BPPM at a meeting with you on August 1st 2009 and also in a
letter sent to you on 16th December 2009 in which it was said that
it is inadmissible to re-launch the Mill with the discharge of wastewaters into
the lake.
The discharge of wastewaters into Baikal is necessary for the Mill in
order to produce bleached pulp using chlorine bleaching, i.e. with the
production cycle designed by the Mill. As a result of the operations of pulp
and paper mills with chlorine bleaching, dioxins and chlorinated furans are
formed as by-products. Their composition in BPPM wastewaters bears a
considerable likeness to the composition of dioxins and chlorinated furans
found in soils and sediments, and zooplankton collected near the BPPM. Dioxins have
also been found in a number of Baikal fauna. When these are a regular part of
people’s diet, the risk of cancer amongst the local population increases, as
has been found along the shores of water bodies where chlorine bleaching is
used at local pulp mills. In the light of this, the scientific community is
categorically against the re-launching of the Baikalsk Mill with the discharge
of its wastewaters directly into Baikal. Similar pulp mills abroad are going
over to pulp bleaching with hydrogen peroxide and ozone.
Conversion to such a technology is problematic for the BPPM and the mill
operates with a technology that was designed at the beginning of the 1960s. The
Mill’s main technological equipment, the pulping process, flushing, bleaching,
lime regeneration and timber preparation has hardly been changed for more than
40 years. BPPM’s output is small by comparison with that of the best Russian
and foreign enterprises. With its present capacity BPPM competes badly on the
world and domestic markets.
Higher concentrations of phenol than are permissible for water bodies
are found in the Mill’s wastewaters; the same is true for chloride and sulfate
ions. Elevated concentrations of PCBs, whose origins are as yet unclear, have
been noted. Most importantly, the atmosphere around the Mill is polluted by foul-smelling
compounds of bivalent sulfur, hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl
sulfide and methyl disulfide. The smells of mercaptan can be sensed distinctly
over distances of up to 70 kilometres. The mill releases a tonne of
ill-smelling substances into the atmosphere every day. Concentrations of
mercaptan exceeding those permitted by 10 or more times have been registered in
the residential part of the town of
considerable discomfort to people in the town and its environs.
As indicated in the State Report “On the state of Lake Baikal and
measures for its protection, 2007,” (Ministry for Natural Resources and the
Environment of the Russian Federation, Moscow, 2008, Table 1.4.11.1), in the Central Ecological
Zone of the Baikal Natural Territory, BPPM contributes 51% of emissions into
the atmosphere from all sources (including enterprises, organisations,
residential etc.), discharges 86% of wastewaters entering the lake, and creates
42% of the solid waste.
The considerable emissions of methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide and
methyl disulfide have an adverse effect on human health. The combined impact of
these compounds gives rise to irritation of the respiratory system, depresses
oxidation-reduction processes, causes irregularities of carbohydrate
metabolism, and has a negative impact on the state of human protein molecules.
Investigations have shown the adverse impact of these compounds on female
reproductive functions. Staff of the Scientific Research Institute of Occupational Medicine and Human
Ecology, East Siberian Scientific Centre SB RAS, have determined that a high
frequency of complications during pregnancy and childbirth can be observed in
women of child-bearing age that have been exposed to methyl sulphurous
compounds. Such abnormalities as placental pathology, threat of miscarriage,
and possibility of miscarriage have been registered (with a risk of 54-76%).
The Mill is
situated in an area of high seismic activity with the possibility of
earthquakes of up to 9-11 degrees on the
12-point Richter scale. Thus, in the case of an earthquake, reagents and waste
could find their way into Baikal from broken vessels and reservoirs. When
considering possible risks, it is essential to bear in mind the possible
leakage of liquid chlorine and the rupture of vessels containing white and
black sulphite liquors, oil products and sulphuric acid, also the rupture of
protective structures and influx of the accumulated waste after wastewater
treatment from sludge ponds into the lake. Other serious environmental
consequences are possible.
It is appropriate to recollect President Vladimir Putin’s words when he
made the decision to re-route the oil pipeline far to the north. “If there is
even a tiny risk of danger from pollution to Baikal, then we, thinking of
future generations, must do everything in order not to minimize this danger,
but to eliminate it.”
It should be noted that, as
mentioned in the letter of the Director of the Department for Timber and Light
Industry of the Russian Ministry for Trade and Industry, M.I.Klinov, to
Academician Mikhail Kuzmin (19.01.2010), pulp production at the Baikalsk Mill
was unprofitable. Before the Mill was closed in October 2008, according to
Klinov’s data, the enterprise was making monthly losses of up to 80 million
roubles. In view of this, there is little hope that the BPPM can make an income
for the town’s and oblast’s budgets.
We understand that those who
were left unemployed in Baikalsk must be supported till the beginning of
operations of new enterprises in the town. Funds that are planned to subsidise the renewal of pulp production at BPPM, would most likely
be more wisely directed towards support for former mill personnel and on
re-profiling production in the town of
the town into a tourist centre could solve many questions relating to local
employment. Apart from that, it would be possible to develop the production of
medicinal products from Siberian larch, the manufacture of silicon solar panels
and modules, and other kinds of production, planned for development in Irkutsk
Oblast in the near future, in Baikalsk. Finally, the production of bottled
Baikal water, so urgently required in
continues to operate. The same is true for the creation of an attractive
tourist and recreational zone in the town.
We hope that the facts cited in this note will help in
the making of a correct decision for the town of