Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant radioactive dumps

The now-defunct Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant (Template:Lang-uk; Prydniprovsky khimichnyi zavod, PHZ, also PChP) in the city of Kamianske, Ukraine, processed uranium ore for the Soviet nuclear program from 1948 through 1991, preparing yellowcake.

Its processing wastes are now stored in nine open-air dumping grounds containing about 36 million tonnes of sand-like low-radioactive residue, occupying an area of 2.5 million square meters. The sites, improperly constructed from the very beginning, have been abandoned by the industry long ago and remain in very poor condition. The top concern is the dumps’ closeness to both the large Dnieper River and city residential areas. According to government experts, the dams separating the grounds from soil water are already leaking, causing the pollution of Dnieper basin. It is believed that further deterioration of the dams, irrespective of any outer accidents, may cause a devastating radioactive mudslide. The Ukrainian government is now tightening control over the grounds and seeking international aid in projects aimed at securing and the gradual re-processing of the PHZ wastes. Recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency has evaluated the condition of the sites and is considering dispatching a major observation and aid mission to Kamianske.

The isolated dump grounds (about nine altogether, at a depth of 3 m) of the former plant are now located in different parts of the city and operated by the purposely-created "Barrier" State Enterprise - with an obscure-meaning new name that has yet to be widely known. That is why the sites, the company, and the whole problem is still commonly referred to as the "Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant (PHZ) wastes".

History

In 1946, the construction of the 906 plant in Dniprodzerzhynsk began (since 1966, the Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant Production Association) under the leadership of Mykhailo Anoshkin, who continued to manage the plant until 1975. To build the plant, the village of Trituzne was relocated, and temporary concentration camps with prisoners were erected on the site, and the plant was built. Construction was completed in two years. The construction project was classified - the plant's employees were forced to abide by a non-disclosure agreement. In addition to the construction of the plant itself, the construction of its own housing stock and sports complexes was carried out.

In 1975, Yuriy Korovin, the head of the uranium shop, became the director of the PCP, under whose leadership the uranium program was canceled.

From 1946 to 1972 the enterprise was engaged in uranium enrichment (production of its nitrous oxide) - 65% of uranium ores of the Soviet Union were processed at the plant. Attempts to process fuel elements began in 1974, but due to the growing number of cancers in the city, this idea was abandoned.

The industrial cycle of nuclear production covered enterprises throughout the Soviet Union, and the PCP was an important part of it. Raw materials were supplied from different territories of the former USSR and Eastern Europe: apatite - Kola Peninsula, uranium ores - deposit "Bismuth" (German Democratic Republic), Mangyshlak (Kazakhstan), Zhovti Vody, where, simultaneously with the construction of the PCP, the construction of the East enrichment plant for uranium ore mining.

In 1992, uranium production was discontinued. The reason for this was the collapse of the Warsaw Pact Organization (the richest ores were supplied from the GDR) and the USSR.

In 1999, the plant was converted (dismembered) into several divisions. In particular, the first to be separated was SE "Barrier", which took care of the waste disposal sites of the plant.

See also

• Threat of the Dnieper reservoirs