Feasibility Study for ACAP Demonstration Project on improved system for collection, storage, transport and treatment of mercury-containing waste (MCW) in NW Region of the Russian Federation
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Issue Date
2010-03
Authors
Danish Ministry of the Environment, Danish Environmental Protection Agency
Subject
ACAP , Mercury , North West Russia , Mercury containing waste , Human health
Abstract
The ACAP Mercury Project is linked to a number of international agreements
that address the mercury issue. The “Heavy Metals Protocol of the Convention
on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP-HM)” is the only existing
agreement that has the potential of covering all the Arctic Countries1. Three
other major agreements are the “North American Regional Action Plan on
Mercury”; the “Helsinki Convention ("HELCOM")” and the "Oslo-Paris
"OSPAR" Convention", together covering all of the Arctic Countries, also addressing
mercury.
In addition, the UNEP Governing Council has agreed to the development of
partnerships as one approach to reducing the risks to human health and the environment
from the release of mercury and its compounds to the environment
from the relevant sectors hereunder consumption, chloro-alkali, coal combustion
and gold mining. The “Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
(POPs)” is another relevant convention.
The overall objective of the ACAP Mercury Project is to contribute to reduction
of mercury releases from the Arctic Countries. In the first phase of the
ACAP Mercury Project, preliminary assessments have been made to identify
and quantify the mercury release sources, both specifically in the Russian Federation
and across all the eight Arctic countries. In the report “Assessment of
Mercury Releases from the Russian Federation” (2005) an estimate of the releases
of mercury from the Russian territory2 is presented.
During this project a questionnaire on assessment of the MCW management
activities in 7 territories in NW Russia has been send out. The questionnaires
have been followed-up by a mission to Murmansk, Karelia, Arkhangelsk, Komi,
and Leningrad in October 2007 with the purpose to further assess the present
status of MCW management in the participating territories. The roundtrip
was completed by a meeting with the Federal Service of Environmental, Technological
and Atomic Supervision, Rostechnadzor in Moscow.