|
Sillamae
Silmet Joint Stock Company (also known
as Silmet Group), a large producer of rare and rare-earth metals.[1] The Estonian Government owns 35% of
Silmet; it will most likely retain this share since it considers the plant a
strategic facility and seeks to maintain control over the management of the
plant's serious environmental problems.[2]
Silmet was established in 1946 for the production of uranium
oxides.[1] The plant developed the process for extracting uranium from
black shale, which is widely available in Estonia.[2]
The facility, also known as Sillamae Metallurgical Plant, produced over 100,000 tons of uranium
for almost 70,000 nuclear weapons and operated in complete secrecy for several
decades.[3] It was the largest phosphate-uranium operation in the former Soviet
Union.[4] Silmet was the site where uranium for the Soviet Union's first
nuclear weapon was refined.[5] The plant exports large quantities of zirconium
and niobium, largely to French and German end-users.[6] In
1990 Silmet stopped refining uranium ore and
focused exclusively on production of rare-earth metals.[1]
Fuel fabrication is reported to have occurred at the Silmet facility. Soviet
documents confiscated by Estonian authorities in summer 1994 indicated
that the facility was one of 16 fuel processing plants in the Soviet Union.
The documents, which a senior official at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs characterized as being "trustworthy," indicated that 1,700 kg of
2 percent enriched uranium is unaccounted for. The material discrepancy
occurred over a two year period.
The Estonian Government owns 35% of Silmet. The
remaining 65% is owned by EPHAG, an Estonian company established in order
to purchase Silmet. (Ownership of EPHAG is divided 60 - 40 between
Estonian-American businessman
Toomas Waldin and the Magnum Group.)
There is a uranium mill tailings site at Silmet.[2] Silmet has 6.3 million
metric tons of uranium processing residues and 150,000 cubic meters of
uranium mill tailings.[2] The tailings waste contains approximately 1200
metric tons of depleted uranium and 500 metric tons of thorium.[1] The
Silmet reservoir holds nearly eight million cubic meters of waste produced
by the rare earth metals extracting plant.[3]
7/14/2000: RADIOACTIVE POOL A
THREAT TO BALTIC SEA
Hans Jakob Eriksen, the coordinator
of environmental aid to Estonia for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency
warned
that the Baltic Sea is threatened by a radioactive pool near a former Soviet
nuclear facility in Estonia. The dams surrounding the pool do not meet international
standards and he emphasized the importance of reinforcing them as they could rupture
"in a heavy storm or if the pressure becomes
too great as a result of the continued dumping of trash in the lagoon."
The report stated that the pool contains at least 1,200 metric tons of uranium
and 600 metric tons of thorium.
3/2/2000: SILLAMAE WASTE PROBLEM REVISITED
On 2 March 2000, Transitions published an article
discussing the environmental hazard Silmet's tailings impoundment poses to the Gulf of Finland. Some sections of the dams surrounding the
impoundment are reportedly only 20% as strong as they were designed to be. A study sponsored by the European
Commission in 1998 ranked the impoundment, which contains over 12 million metric
tons of hazardous waste, the fourth most dangerous of 7,000 potentially
hazardous Eastern European plants, mines, and waste sites involved in uranium production.
While some parties claim that the plant is already safe, according to Transitions
the plant will not be declared safe until
the completion (slated for 2006) of a 40-hectare depository that will hold 12
million metric tons of radioactive waste. The $20 million project entails
reinforcing the dam, rerouting the water, and covering the impoundment.
So far the European Union's PHARE program, the Nordic Environment Finance
Corporation, and the governments of Sweden, Finland,
Denmark, and Norway have made contributions to help Estonia with the project.
The Nordic Investment Bank will loan $5 million and Estonia itself
is expected to invest $3 million into the project. [For a picture of the site please click
here.]
3/2000: PLANS FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE
CLEANUP
During the Tailing Dams 2000 conference, Wismut, a German company that in December of
1998 submitted the
winning tender for cleaning up Sillamae, presented an overview of the situation of the Sillamae uranium
tailings impoundment and proposed shoring up the impoundment dam by placing a pile
grillage in front of it. Wismut's original five-year plan was to cover the reservoir with oil-shale
ash in order to prevent additional rain water from collecting in the
impoundment, which could lead to the contamination of groundwater. Other plans for cleanup included one
described on 11 December 1998 by the Estonian Ministry of the Environment, which would have
involved covering the impoundment with an impermeable layer and reinforcing the
dam. According to the Ministry, the estimated cost
of the cleanup of 200 million kroons ($15 million) would be provided by the
European Union's PHARE program. In 1996 European Union Environment
Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard visited Silmet and reported that the dump contained 1,200 metric tons of uranium, 800 metric tons of thorium, seven kilograms of
radium and by-products of the decomposition of uranium.
10/13/99: EC TO ALLOCATE EUR5
MILLION TO ENSURE SAFETY AT SILLAMAE
The European
Commission has agreed to grant EUR5 million ($5.4
million as of 13 October 1999) for the Sillamae mothballing project
(the total cost of the project is estimated at EUR20 million [$21.55 million]). The Norwegian government will
provide $2 million, Finland and Denmark will donate $1 million, Sweden will provide
EUR1 million ($1.08 million), and Estonia will provide EUR3 million ($3.2 million). A Nordic
financial corporation for environmental protection will provide EUR2 million
($2.15 million). The remaining EUR5 million ($5.4
million) will be borrowed from the Nordic
Investment Bank. The seven-year project involves constructing an impermeable
barrier around the radioactive waste dump. Upon the completion of the project,
Sillamae will be the first uranium site in Eastern and Central Europe
that is environmentally safe and in good order.
11/17/97: SILMET REQUIRES HEAVY FINANCING FOR RESERVOIR MAINTENANCE
The Silmet plant will require approximately 212 million
kroons ($14,560,500) to maintain its reservoir of liquid waste. The
funds will likely come from the owner AS Silmet, the Estonian budget, and
international aid. AS Silmet drafted a three-part plan to carry out
the following projects: reinforcement of the dam which separates the waste
reservoir from the Baltic Sea, drawing up a project to preserve the reservoir,
and site maintenance which is scheduled to be completed by 2003.
In 1997 Silmet contributed half of Estonia's total pollution flow into
the Gulf of Finland. Workers have now nearly completed reinforcement
of the reservoir dam while a monitoring system takes readings of the dam's
status on a continual basis.
10/96: EU SAYS A BILLION ESTONIAN KROONS NEEDED TO CLEAN SILMET
According to the Environment Commissioner of the European Union Ritt Bjerregaard,
a billion kroons are needed to clean Silmet's toxic waste dump. During
a visit to Silmet, Bjerregaard inquired about the possibility of liquidating
Silmet completely and other ways of preventing its future use. The Estonian
government has already allocated 4.8 million kroons to deal with the problem
at Silmet.
5/8/96: PLANS FOR THE PRIVATIZATION OF SILMET ARE ANNOUNCED
The Estonian Privatization Agency Council announced plans for the privatization
of a 65% stake in the Silmet (Sillamae) plant. An official stated that
the question of separation of the waste dump from the enterprise would
be decided at a later date. However, if need be, the Estonian firm ALARA
Ltd. is prepared to assume management of the dump.
4/16/96: SILMET AND JAPANESE FIRM NISSHO IWAI SIGN CONTRACT
The Silmet plant and the Japanese trading firm Nissho Iwai, which specializes
in nuclear energy and chemicals, signed a contract worth 100 million Estonian
kroons for refined and/or processed rare earth metals.
4/10/96: SILMET SIGNS AN AGREEMENT WITH RAZNOIMPEKS
The Silmet plant signed an agreement with Russia's Raznoimpeks trading company
for supplies of metal ore from the Solikamsk magnesium plant. A Silmet
spokesman reported that the agreement brings the supply of rare earth metals
(niobium and tantalum) from Russia to 3,200 tons per year. Since Silmet
requires 4,000 tons of raw materials each year for production, negotiations
are also underway with the US firm Molicorp for an additional 800 tons.
2/28/96: SILMET HOLDS TALKS WITH FRENCH, US COMPANIES
The Silmet chemical plant reportedly held talks with the French company Rulan
Poulan [sic, probably Rhone-Poulenc] and Molicorp of America on sales of its products to these
companies. An agreement has already been reached with Japan for sales worth
100 million Estonian kroons. In addition, negotiations are proceeding with
China concerning the purchase of ore for Silmet.
9/17/95: SILMET TO BE PRIVATIZED
Estonian television reported that the Silmet factory is due to be privatized
and that preparations were underway to sell it to the Russian firm
Tekhsnabeksport.
Prime Minister Vahi agreed that Silmet should be privatized, but stated
that it should not be sold to Tekhsnabeksport or any other representative
of the Russia military-industrial complex.
11/3/94: 1,700 KILOGRAMS OF URANIUM UNACCOUNTED FOR
Mark Sinisoo of the Estonian Foreign Ministry stated that Russian archives
seized from the Silmet plant show that over a two-year period, 1,700 kilograms
of uranium (enriched to 2%) were unaccounted for. During a five-year period
under the Soviet Union, the plant handled everything from weapons-grade
uranium to very-low enriched uranium for fuel processing. This theft has
not been confirmed.
1/1/90: URANIUM CONCENTRATE PROCESSING DISCONTINUED
Uranium concentrate processing at the Silmet Plant was reportedly discontinued.
Although rumors circulated in October 1991 about a secret enrichment plant
on the Baltic coast near the port of Narva, Estonian officials identified
the site as a U3O8 production plant.
Last updated 6 April 2001
Comments or questions? Contact Cristina Chuen at MIIS
CNS: Cristina.Chuen@miis.edu
|
