OREANDA-NEWS. June 8, 2007. A unique ash dump remediation technology has been implemented by OGK-5 at Reftinskaya GRES, one of the four production branches of the company. It is the first time in Russia that a plot of land with the area of 440 ha was brought back into life by growing forest plantations.

“The remediation of ash dump 1 at Reftinskaya GRES – is a unique joint project of energy experts, foresters and scientists. Millions of rubles invested into remediation by OGK-5 prove that people working in the energy sector understand the necessity and importance of resolving environmental issues”, said A. Makhnev, the head scientist of the Urals Botanic Garden.

B. Pivnik, the Deputy Director of Reftinskaya GRES added that OGK-5 is implementing other environmental programmes at Reftinskaya GRES. “Thus, we have already started to implement the programmed aimed at reconstruction of electrostatic precipitators, with planned investments totaling 2.2 billon RUB. Installation of new precipitators, with the separation efficiency of about 99.5%, will help decrease dust emissions. In the long term, OGK-5 plans to introduce a new dry ash collection technology at Reftinskaya GRES, which will also mitigate the environmental impact – this project is estimated at $241 million”.

The joint press-conference of energy experts and environmentalists took place within the framework of the ‘Biological Remediation and Monitoring of Contaminated Land’ International Forum, which attracted more than 100 scientists from Russia and foreign countries. The closing stage of the forum took place in the village of Reftinsky, Sverdlovsk Oblast, where the forum participants saw the results of remediation of contaminated land, which is undoubtedly of great interest to industrially developed regions.