OREANDA-NEWS. On September 09, 2008 in the last ten years the amount of solid waste from operations of the Polar Division of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (MMC Norilsk Nickel or the Company) was reduced by 53.4%, reported the press-centre of Norilsk Nickel.

The amount of pollutants in wastewater was reduced by 37% in the last three years.

This information was reported at the international seminar Prevention of Emergencies in the Arctic and Coordination of Relief Efforts Including Environmental Effects organized by the Russian EMERCOM and the Workgroup of the Arctic Council for Prevention and Response to Emergencies. The seminar was held in Dudinka and MMC Norilsk Nickel provided organizational support and actively participated in the event.

According to the reported information, the priorities of the Polar Division include incremental reduction of pollutants, notably of sulfur dioxide, further abatement of solid pollutants emission, consistent cutdowns in the amount of polluted wastewaters dumped into water bodies, development of waste storage facilities and increase of the rate of waste salvaging. For instance, in the period from 2004 to 2007 the amount of salvaged production waste at the Polar Division more than doubled (from 24.5% to 57.2%).

In order to address the need to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions the Polar Division retains the leading Russian and international R&D and engineering organizations and companies. The Testing and Environmental Analysis Center of the Control and Analysis Department of the Polar Division implements control over emissions into the atmosphere. Each year more than 6000 samples of industrial waste materials are collected, more than 311 gas treatment plants are monitored and more than 10 000 element identification tests are implemented. Information about the air condition is published on the monthly basis in Zapolyarny Vestnik newspaper.

Ninety-nine point eight percent of waste materials produced at operations of the Polar Division are low-hazard wastes from mining and metallurgical processes (rock and overburden, tailings from concentrators, metallurgical slag) and the rate of recycling these materials in production is growing.

MMC Norilsk Nickel is implementing a large-scale environmental program with the total cost of RUB 36 billion. According to the Production Development Strategy of the Company, one of the long-term objectives involves improving environmental safety in production in accordance with environmental legal requirements. The Action Plan to reduce emission of pollutants in the air is being implemented.