2.2. Environmental Remediation of Decommissioned Military Bases on Franz Josef Land Demonstration Project

 

The Project Goals

  1. Assessing pollution with oil products, PAHs, POPs and heavy metals, taking inventory of the pollution sources, determining their quantities, state, and threats of destruction, assessing environmental threats on the Demonstration Project sites selected within the abandoned airbase on Alexandra Island of the Franz-Josef Land Archipelago;

  2. Demonstration disposal of drums with waste oils, residual fuel and lubricants including activities such as draining of liquids, removal of residues, pressing of the drums, their subsequent removal from the Archipelago, and utilization at enterprises of Archangelsk Oblast;

  3. Assessing methods and potential for the mathballing of the PCB-containing equipment that is part of the airbase and air defense facilities on the selected site; 

  4. Cleaning up the vacated drum storage area by using modern techniques of cleaning up ground oil contamination in the Arctic context; 

  5. Developing remediation guidelines for the polluted territories of the abandoned military facilities in the Russian Arctic;

  6. Taking sample for contamination before and after remediation activities in order to determine effectiveness of the cleanup technologies applied;

  7. Determining legal and institutional procedures for taking the remediated territories from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense and for transferring them under the jurisdiction of the Archangelsk Oblast;

The Project was implemented by the non-profit organization "Polar Research Foundation (NO "Polar Foundation”), which was in charge of the overall organization and coordination of the studies. The subcontractors included: the State Organization "State Oceanographic Institute (GU "GOIN”), Moscow; OOO I.K.M. Engineering, St. Petersburg; the North-West branch of "NPO Typhoon", St. Petersburg, the North Territorial Office for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Northern UGMS), Archangelsk

The Project Duration

The field works were carried out between 18 to 20 September 2007 during the run of the Michael Somov research and expedition vessel of the Northern UGMS bringing supplies to the polar stations and carrying out research under the 2007/2008 International Polar Year Program. Additional samples were taken in 2008 during the pre-project site investigations related to the development of the detailed project of the clean up of the Alexandra’s Land area. The Project was completed in October 2009.

The Project Activities

Under the Demonstration Project, the activities related to the collection and utilization of empty drums, drums with the residual fuel and lubricants, and to the cleanup of the ground from oil contamination by using degradation biological products were carried out within the abandoned Nagurskaya Military Base located on Alexandra’s Island.Three cleanup sites were selected for the Demonstration Project, but since it was not possible to work on Cleanup Site 1 (the fuel drums were on the books of the existing frontier station), the cleanup activities were only carried out on Cleanup Sites 2 and 3.

Fig.2
Figure 2. Schematic Map of Geoenvironmental Sampling Points on Site 10 (Fuel and Lubricants Storage near Nagurskaya) on Alexandra Island (1:5000)

Cleanup Sites 2 and 3 were located on Site 10.

The work scope was as follows:

  • Removing metal scrap from the cleanup sites;
  • Collecting empty drums and drums with residual fuel and lubricants from one or more areas (totaling not more than 1 ha);
  • Draining the residual fuel and lubricants into tanks that are available within the facility;
  • Cleansing the drums with a specialized device that provides for the regeneration of the detergent;
  • Compacting empty drums;
  • Packing the pressed drums and taking them to the Michael Somov Vessel, and transferring them at a later stage to metal scrap utilization organizations;
  • Working the cleaned up areas with a cultivator;
  • Applying two brands of organic pollutants degrading biological products on the cleaned up areas;
Fig.3
Figure 3. Abandoned Fuel Drums on Former Military Base «Nagurskaya»

Following the selection of the test cleaning areas, work was carried out (i) to remove - from the cleanup areas - and test compact fuel and lubricants drums by using a 12 t specialized hydraulic press; (ii) to take control soil samples from the areas to be remediated with biological products; and (iii) to apply two different biological products (“Devoroil”, and “Petro-Treat”) together with the required biogenic substances. Some sections treated with the biological products were covered with specialized film to provide for better temperature regime for biological products. After the completion of the works, a few compacted and good fuel and lubricant drums were brought to Archangelsk on the Michael Somov Vessel and stored on the Roshydromet Northern Department depot. The good drums were then used to test drum compacting equipment. The compacted drums were transferred as scrap to the OOO Archangelsk Metal Group depot.  

The Project Outcomes

The drum disposal activities brought about the following findings:

Compacting most of the Archipelago drums needs powerful pressing or compacting equipment since the drum walls could be as thick as 2 mm. The best option is a press with a capacity of not less than 24 t.

The cleansing of drums and treatment of recycle water should be carried out in premises with positive temperatures since drums have inside a mix of residual fuel and lubricants and frozen water.

A more effective approach to cleansing the drums might be to burn out the residual fuel and lubricants by using specialized equipment that provides a sufficiently high temperature of combustion and low level of pollutants in the resulting emissions. This technique will require ongoing pollutant level monitoring of combustion gases.

Fig.4
Figure 4. Bioremediation of Oily Soil

The main findings of the soil bioremediation activities are as follows:

  • For soil remediation purposes, biological products should be applied in the areas with high levels of local oil contamination provided it would be possible to ensure effective performance of such biological products. Such areas should be surrounded with natural berms or artificial bunding so as to prevent washing-off of the biological products and the respective biogenic substances.
  • Where possible biological products should be applied early in the warm season to ensure the best possible time for their performance.
  • In order to improve the performance of biological products, various covers should be used such as specialized film or stationary polycarbonate greenhouses to ensure the best warming of the soil.
  • It is possible to organize specialized remediation sites – apparently smaller in size – for biological remediation (with due regard to the above activities) of contaminated soils collected in other areas and delivered to such a remediation site.
  • It is desirable to use specialized biological products that are best adapted to their application in the Arctic context. The biological basis of such products must be composed of microorganisms grown from the bacteria varieties that are natural biological degraders of hydrocarbons in the Arctic soils.

The 2007/2008 Demonstration Project, whose major goal was to investigate and cleanup the territory of the abandoned facility of the Ministry of Defense on Alexandra’s Island, generated a lot of unique information. It also tested elements of the technology that could be used in the planning and carrying out of further activities related to the cleanup of this and other similar facilities. The organizational, resource and technological provision of the forthcoming cleanup activities on the archipelago requires close cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Defense, Frontier Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Roshydromet, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, other agencies concerned, as well as tapping of the international experience and expertise to ensure the required technological level of activities related to the utilization of hazardous waste and remediation of polluted lands.  

Based on the completed activities and experience gained, guidelines were development for the remediation of contaminated areas of abandoned military facilities in the Russian Arctic. The guidelines are in line with the applicable regulatory and legal framework and take into account the current state of such facilities.

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