Management of Contaminated Sites and Land in Central and Eastern Europe

Ukraine

Country Characterisation

Background

The Ukraine regained its independence in 1991. Ukraine is a country with a high level of industrial infrastructure development. In the industrial sector, significant shares belong to chemical, metallurgical and mining manufactures.

Potentially harmful industries comprise about one third of the enterprises in Ukraine. Due to this, the industrial emissions to the environment are quite high. Because of its geographical position, there is located in Ukraine several tens of military airbases, sites with underground nuclear strategic missiles, and affiliated service installation. Furthermore, the Chernobyl disaster has caused an extensive contamination of land by radionuclides. All these factors have caused various kinds of land contamination in Ukraine. However, the land contamination problems only gained attention after Ukraine became independent in 1991.

Upon independence, Ukraine declared itself as being a nuclear weapon free country. Military sites of the so called "Military Defence Complex" are distributed all over the country, some of which are situated in areas with high ecological impacts; i.e. the industrial areas of the Donetsk basin, along the Dnepr River, and industrial areas close to the Black Sea and the Asow Sea.

In general, information concerning operation and the management of military sites were kept secret. The sites were usually operated without any environmental control measures. The exact number of sites, which are run by the "Military Defence Complex", is confidential. When Ukraine regained its independence, the number of sites was remarkably reduced and conversion was considered for many sites. Major conversion aspects are usually:

	The elimination of weapons and ammunition.
	The remediation of the premises and conversion to economical beneficial land uses.

There is no specific definition for contaminated sites and land.

However, the Ukraine legislation has a definition for contaminated military sites, which are considered as sites of the Military Defence Complex, where concentrations of contaminants in soil, surface waters and groundwater exceed defined limit values. Mainly, military sites consist of garrisons, air and marine bases, test and shooting ranges, strategic points (i.e. repair and maintenance facilities, and stocks for ammunition), stocks in general, and military research centres.

The legislative base for the planning and realisation of remedial activities is the Ukrainian Environmental Protection Act and also the Water and Land Codes of Ukraine.

Among others, the Environmental Protection Act defines a fining system for environmental misdemeanours, and environmental criteria for military operations. The management of contaminated sites or remediation is not specified.

In 1996, Ukraine established per law a National Auditing Programme for potentially contaminated facilities. The programme is valid for both civil and military facilities.

The order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 595-p from august 1994 allows for ensuring the profitability of remedial activities at the expenses of extracted product realisation. This was developed aiming at attracting commercial structures for the remediation work.

It is noted that the legislation does not secure the "polluter pay principle". Economic mechanisms inducing polluters to liquidate negative consequences of their activities have not been established.

In Ukraine, there are practically no specifications on acceptable residual concentrations of contaminants in soil. Maximum allowable concentrations are, however, defined for a variety of compounds for water and air (groundwater and surface water).

A site-specific approach is applied for the assessment of soil contamination, considering general environmental conditions, the type and extent of contamination, and the future land use.

Concerning the Chernobyl, the work performed on elimination of the disaster consequences is constantly supervised at government level. The work is co-ordinated by the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Liquidation of the Chernobyl Disaster Consequences. The ministry was founded in 1996. A state "program for Chernobyl disaster consequences minimisation" has been developed, in which the aspects of remediation of contaminated areas are also included.

The Ukraine Military Defence Complex (MDC) consists of several parties. The central military administration of the MDC and the Ministries involved in the MDC are responsible for the management of military sites. The central military administration is part of the government, and has a special division, which is concerned with the environmental management at the sites of the MDC. The Ministries of the MDC have their own environmental divisions, which are responsible for the assessment of contamination at military sites and the implementation of appropriate remediation measures. The Ministries of the MDC operate in accordance with the regional agencies of the Ministry of the Environment Protection and Nuclear Safety.

Important in respect to other types of land contamination is the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety, and also the State Committee on Geology. A Special Task Force Division of the Ministry of the Environment Protection and Nuclear Safety is responsible for the management and remediation of contaminated sites.

The Regional Agencies of the Ministry of the Environment Protection and Nuclear Safety are responsible for the identification and registration of military sites and investigations at military sites.

The site-specific management at each military site is responsible for the compliance to current environmental legislation and has to implement measures in the case of violations.

Up to now there are no general inventories on contaminated sites.

However, along the National Environment Audit Programme, 43 military sites were registered as being potentially contaminated. The programme is valid for both civil and military facilities. A key feature of the programme is to inspect the facilities on an annual basis.

In practise only very few sites have been audited. In total, the 43 sites were audited and registered as potentially contaminated. The largest sites among these were:

	The air base of Uzen, with a total surface area of 5 km².
	A variety of airbases close to the cities Poltava and Lutsk.
	The marine base of Sewastopol.

Characterisation of Soil and Groundwater Contamination

Sources of Soil and Groundwater Contamination

The contamination of soil with pesticides has the most complex character. Here, the most hazardous factor is the presence of persistent chlororganic pesticides. In Ukraine, more than 20% of the soil in the used land contain DDT and products of the degradation of this. 4% are contaminated by hexachloro-cyclohexane.

Due to the Chernobyl disaster, more than 84000 km² of agricultural land is contaminated by radionuclides. The greatest degrees of radioactive land contamination are in the Zhytomir (70%) and Kiev (15%) regions. The work performed on elimination for the disaster consequences is constantly supervised at government level.

Also, the contamination from the petrochemical industries and related to the use of mineral oil products is doubtless a problem in Ukraine. The basic sources of contamination are oil refineries (6), airbases and some other Soviet Army objects, network of transit and international oil pipelines (more than 6000 km), and numerous sites of production, storage and transportation of mineral oil products (more than 300 objects).

Today, 133 of 197 large water works in Ukraine are located in zones, which also have potential sources of oil contamination. Contamination has already been detected at more than 150 water works located in the rural territories. It is estimated, that the contaminated land area exceed 30000 ha. Concerning the airbases (43), soil and groundwater on practically all of these is heavily contaminated by light hydrocarbon fractions.

Some of the contaminated sites (e.g. in the towns of Lutsk, Zaporozhye, Stryi and Uzin) need urgent remediation due to the risk the contamination pose to the water supply in the areas.

On basis of the urgent character of the potable water supply problem, a three year scientific and technical program has been developed by joint co-ordinated efforts of the National Academy of Science, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety, and the State Committee on Geology. The programme is entitled "realisation of the control, estimation and forecasting of the situation of petrochemical contamination of ground water in Ukraine". One of the results of this programme will be the development of methodologies for scientifically reasonable and ecologically safe remediation of contaminated land. With the support of the ministry, new technological elements are developed for remedial activities. Here, development has especially focused on biological technologies for degradation of petroleum contamination. Development of investigation methods has also been included in the programme.

During the Environmental Audits performed at military sites, the following contamination profiles have been identified: Hydrocarbon contamination in soil, surface waters, and groundwater deriving from fuel tanks, stocks for fuels and lubricants, pipelines, and filling stations. Most pipelines and filling stations are in poor condition. They were built in the 1950ies and usually poorly maintained. Limited or lacking emergency planning and implementation of safety technologies, such as oil separators, wastewater treatment and sewage systems, has also caused contamination.

The most frequently occurring contaminants were identified to be hydro carbons, heavy metals, hazardous and domestic wastes, building material, metal scrap, organic solvents, paints and varnishes, various plastic material, chemicals and rubber, radioactive material, and explosives and ammunition.

Major sources of contamination were identified to be:

	Stocks and filling stations for fuels and lubricants.
	Vehicle parks, especially for tanks.
	Service and maintenance facilities, car wash facilities, and paint boxes.
	Sewage systems.
	Shooting and test ranges.
	Permanent and interim waste sites.
	Construction sites.

Besides that, there are a variety of special problems of major environmental concern; e.g.:

Abandoned sites with nuclear weapons, which are usually also contaminated with 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (DMH), a highly toxic substance.

The environment around marine bases at the Black Sea. The treatment and collection of wastes on board ships is usually insufficient, and waste ships and oil separators are few and mostly in poor condition. The water at the marine base of Sewastopol contains hydrocarbon concentrations, which are 15 times the maximum allowable concentration. The number of sewage systems along the coast is not sufficient, and liquid wastes are usually dumped into the sea.

Number of Registered Contaminated Sites / Contaminated Land Areas

There is no estimate on the number of contaminated sites.

Investigation Methods

Identification of Potentially Contaminated Sites and Areas

The Environmental Audits are carried out by:

	Authorities which are responsible for environmental protection and nuclear safety.
	Authorities of the health system.
	Authorities which are responsible for nature protection and the use of natural resources.

Key objectives are to identify potentially contaminated areas, and facilities, which have the potential for negative impacts on the environment.

When an audit is completed, an environmental certificate is issued, which defines specific criteria for air emissions, water emissions, and disposal of hazardous wastes.

The key steps of the first Environmental Audit of a site are:

	On-site visit (visual assessment).
	The identification of potentially contaminated areas.
	Analysis of identified contamination (air emissions, wastewater).
	Control of compliance to the requirements of standards, regulations and other.

In some cases, pictures are taken of the identified potentially contaminated areas and samples are collected. After the first audit, it is decided to which extent further sampling and detailed investigation of the potentially contaminated areas or identified contaminated areas will be necessary.

In 1994, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety developed a guidance document describing the general objectives of the National Environmental Audit Programme and the general procedure. Major objectives were defined as:

	The identification of potentially contaminated areas.
	The assessment of the extent of contamination.
	The calculation of necessary remediation measures.
	The definition of criteria to avoid emergencies in the future.
	The carrying out of remediation activities at identified contaminated areas.

The general procedure consists of:

	Definition of those sites which need to be audited and in which order.
	Lays down which data and documents that need to be checked.
	Lays down the workers safety measures during the audits.
	Special procedures for those sites, where violations of previous inspections are identified.

During the audit, the following documents shall be checked:

	Ownership documents.
	Documents concerning the sewage system.
	Maps specifying water treatment facilities.
	The environmental certificate of the site.
	Any plan defining measures to minimise negative environmental impacts.
	Licenses for the exploitation of natural resources; i.e. wastewater emissions, and air emissions.
	Documents concerning accident prevention and emergency plans.

Investigation of Contaminated Sites and Areas

If potentially contaminated areas are identified along the pre-assessment or the Environmental Audit, further investigations are carried out. The applied methodologies for sampling and chemical analysis are those of the former Soviet Union.

Risk assessment of contaminated sites and areas is oriented to maximum allowable concentrations in water and air, which exist for a variety of substances. A site-specific approach is applied for the assessment of soil contamination, considering general environmental conditions and the type and extent of contamination.

If remedial activities are carried out, the environment and health authorities evaluate the performance of these, and an environmental certificate is issued, when remediation is completed.

Up till now, no facilities exist for treatment or proper depositing of contaminated soil.

No data available

In some cases, funding can be made available from the environmental budgets of the regions.

Concerning military sites, the budgets of the individual sites of the Military Defence Complex are partly dedicated to the assessment and remediation of contamination at the sites. However, the available resources are limited and not sufficient to solve the actual problems. In addition, the EU programme Partnership for Peace has funded Environmental Audits at military sites.

Concerning military sites, the owner, and hence the responsible party of the Military Defence Complex, is liable for clean-up measures. Remedial measures are carried out as official remediation projects and are supervised by the regional authorities.

For military sites, it has been estimated that remediation activities per site range on average between 1 - 5 million USD.

No data available

Illustrative Cases

Kryvey Rig is a large industrial mining region located in the southern part of Ukraine with a population of more than 700000 people in 1995. The region is very rich in iron ore deposits that are several kilometres in thickness and cover a 3500 km² area. Iron ore in the are is mined by both open pit mining and underground mining methods. Today, there are 11 open pit mines and 12 underground mines located within a 100 km² area.

Today, the region is in a deep slump. The total production volumes of marketable iron ore and of steel in 1996 were only 40-50% compared to the volumes in 1990. Latent unemployment at the end of 1995 was estimated at about 25-30%. A continuous reduction in the iron ore market is forecasted for the next 10 – 15 years.

During almost all of the past century, mining activities have been carried out in the area resulting in excavation of more than 1.3 billion tonnes of iron ore or about 500 million tonnes of iron. This of course has a great impact on the geochemical processes in the region.

In fact, the natural steppe land surface that is characteristic to the region has been transformed into a hilly or foothill landscape with height differences ranging from 300 to 500 meters. The hydrological regimes of both surface and ground water to a depth of 1700 meters have been severely transformed.

In the area, an amount of 300 – 400 million m³ waste from the mining activities is deposited in waste banks and 80 – 110 million m³ waste results from the ore enrichment processes. Moreover, 12 – 14 million m³ of highly mineralised saline mine water with an average salt concentration of 12 g/l is discharged to the ground and the surface waters in the area.

The total area covered by mining waste banks is about 70 km², in some cases with heights exceeding 100 meters. As a result of the mining activities, the topography of the region has been significantly changed transforming it into an unnatural state. Mining activities in the region has resulted in changes to air quality, changes to chemical composition and level of ground water, and creation of numerous artificial reservoirs.

The mine tailing ponds in the area contain about 5 million tonnes of sludge and cover an area of about 80 km². The majority of the sludge results from the iron ore enrichment processing enterprises in the Kryvey Rig region. The sludge consists of light sandy soil containing among others 60-70% SiO₂, 5-15% FeO, 3-5% Fe₂O₃ and up to 1% of a range of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Cr and others).

All in all it is evaluated, that the changes of the environment resulting from the many years of mining activities must be characterised as irreversible changes. Returning the various environment parameters in the region to their natural state is practically impossible.

Ad Hoc International Working Group on Contaminated Land (1998). Ad Hoc CEE Forum on Contaminated Land. Report of the Warsaw Meeting, September 18, 1998. Report from the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape.

POPIN (Population Information Network) (1999). The Demography of Countries with Economies in Transition. At gopher://gopher.undp.org/00/ungophers/popin/wdtrends.

Schaefer, K.W., F. Bieren, et al. (1997). Internationale Erfahrungen der Herangehensweise an die Erfassung, Erkundung Bewertung und Sanierung Militärischer Altlasten. Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environment Agency), volume 1 and 2, Berlin, Germany.

UN/ECE Statistical Division (1998). Trends in Europe and North America. 1998 Statistical Yearbook of the UN/ECE. At http://www.unece.org/stats/trend/trend_h.htm. Based on figures from 1994 – 1997.