Experts on plant in Osinovo: ‘Ignorant people cause the anxiety’

“The population shouldn’t fear”

Experts from Germany voiced their evaluation of the environmental safety of the waste incineration plant that will be built near Kazan on 3 June. President of the republic Rustam Minnikhanov personally initiated an additional examination. The experts calculated how many emissions the plant will generate into the atmosphere, how it would influence the environment during the construction of the plant and when it would start running. The expert group also studied the emissions of ash and slag and exhaust gases, their composition and potential load on the environment.

At the press conference, head of Müller-BBM Walter Grotz said they could say they completed their work that took two months. Key indicators and parameters have already been calculated, they won’t change, so they can say the work is completed. The company is going to provide the final document just in two weeks. Walter Grotz says it was very important for them that the population living in the area of the planned plant understand that the plant met all environmental requirements and has almost no impact on the atmosphere.

According to the inspection’s result presented during the press conference, the locals, indeed, have nothing to worry about. So according to Grotz, they didn’t find above-the-limit values, while the environmental impact wouldn’t be noticeable, as the emissions would account for just some percentages of the average limit values for such plants.

Director of LGA Günter Knerr who inspected the WIP together with Müller-BBM expressed his opinion: with today’s inspection, they can say the population shouldn’t fear any harmful impact on the atmosphere in this area.

“Waste composition doesn’t matter”

Tatnefteprovodstroy will become the contractor of the construction of the waste incineration plant in Tatarstan. The works will cost 25 billion rubles. Authorities of Zelenodolsk Municipal District were already given permission to erect the facility. Now the area is fenced and temporary facilities are set up, the driveway is ready.

A line of equipment of Hitachi Zosen Inova Swiss-Japanese holding will be installed in the plant. According to Director of Müller-BBM Walter Grotz, an identical plant that is planned in Tatarstan could be built in Germany. It has analogous parameters.

Director of Müller-BBM Walter Grotz says that the composition of waste doesn’t matter: firstly, the plant envisages additional visual and radiation control. Secondly, it is resistant to changes in the morphological composition of waste. Even in case of significant fluctuations of the incoming flow of SMW, the system automatically makes the concentration of harmful substances that are formed to the norm. In case key pollution indicators go up, the enterprise will automatically stop.

After the processing, waste will be accumulated, consequently, inert materials will be extracted from it. Ash can be used further, for instance, in road construction.

“Charlatans cause the concern”

As Moscow State University’s Professor, chemist and toxicologist Valery Petrosyan noted during the press conference, the new SWM management that is now introduced across Russia, WIPs have a special place. Petrosyan criticised opponents of the construction of such facilities.

“Charlatans, or ignorant people, cause the anxiety. The discussion doesn’t have room for such people. People who say that the plant shouldn’t be built but the landfills should remain either aren’t up to date or do this for specific purposes,” the expert claimed.

Adviser to Director General of RT-Invest Konstantin Diyesperov added, in turn, that WIPs hadn’t had such big accidents as emergency situations. He said that there were questions about the plants of the older generation (different standards existed until 2000) and old technologies, but now the sector has established and is quite sustainable. The most important thing is to meet all quality standards.

The representative of RT-Invest also said that activists against the construction of the plant “could already have obtained the project’s documentation twice but they refused to pick it up providing them with various excuses”.