New Way Environmental Report

On September 25, 2020, Ulba Metallurgical Plant (UMP) reported on the implementation of environmental measures and measures to reduce the load during adverse weather conditions (AWC).

This meeting was held in the first online video conference organized by the Department of ecology of East Kazakhstan region. Dmitry Slobodin, head of the environmental protection Department, made a report on behalf of UMP:

– 11 actions are included into UMP environmental protection plan

According to the results of last year, no excess of the established limits of harmful substances was recorded. Moreover, the company's emissions into the atmosphere were below the established annual limits. The share of substances emitted by the plant is less than 0.1% of the total emissions of Ust-Kamenogorsk enterprises.

One of the main tasks for UMP is to reduce the volume of liquid waste and switch to production technologies with a minimum amount of waste. This year, it is planned to complete the shelter of the solid waste disposal facility and the construction of the evaporation pond for liquid waste No. 5 (stage 2) on the tailings farm site. At the same time, there will be no increase in the area of the waste disposal site. The amount of liquid waste sent will be equal to the amount of the evaporated water component of the waste.

Since 2014, the company has been treating wastewater at outlets in the Ulba river. To date, the amount of harmful substances in the discharges does not exceed the permissible concentrations (MPC). For example, to the chlorides, with MPC 300 mg/l established for the enterprise maximum allowable concentration of 13.5 mg/l for calcium, at Mac 180 mg/l established for the enterprise maximum allowable concentration of 48.4 mg/l for the ammonium salt, when MPC 0.5 mg/l established for the enterprise maximum allowable concentration of 0.2 mg/L. And so on all the ingredients. At such concentrations, UMP does not have a harmful effect on water objects.

In order to implement the terms of the Memorandum signed this year with the Ministry of ecology, geology and natural resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, UMP is working on a project to dispose solid radioactive waste in the territory of the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. The work is expected to be carried out in several stages, broken down by year.

At the Uranium production facility (UP), a project was developed to introduce a «dry» reconversion using Canadian technology, public hearings were held, and a feasibility study was sent for examination. As a result of the implementation of this project, it is expected to reduce liquid waste by up to 40 thousand tons per year.

Over the past 4 years, the company has spent more than 200 million tenge on planting tree seedlings around the existing tailing dump of the enterprise, creating a «green belt».

During the period of unfavorable weather conditions in August-September of this year, the company worked closely with the Department of ecology for East Kazakhstan region. Representatives of the Department of ecology together with the factory laboratory monitored the atmospheric air at the border of the sanitary protection zone of the UMP. With the standard reduction of 40%, the volumes for the main pollutants (beryllium, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, hydrofluoric acid vapors) were reduced by 80-96%. This was due to the partial shutdown of part of the work and the shutdown of ventilation systems.

In its daily activities, UMP will continue to work on the implementation of the environmental action plan in order to further reduce the negative impact on the environment.