Nornickel launches emissions monitoring system
MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Nornickel launched an online air quality monitoring system in Norilsk on a trial basis last November, the Russian mining giant's vice president for environment and industrial safety, Stanislav Seleznev told reporters.
The project is now at the pilot operation stage, which will continue until about the beginning of June.
Under an agreement with Russian Ecological Operator (REO) signed in October 2021, Nornickel plans to equip seven sources of pollutant emissions at its Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant with an automatic monitoring system by the end of 2022.
The budget for the project to monitor air quality in Norilsk is about 30 million rubles.
The agreement with REO calls for Nornickel to install, at its own expense, verification sensors to monitor emissions at industrial facilities and in the residential part of Norilsk.
Nornickel plants will thus become participants in a pilot project to roll out an automatic air quality monitoring system in Russia. The automated online emissions monitoring system is part of the Environment national project.
The data on Nornickel's greenhouse gas emissions will subsequently be used by the company when exporting its products to international markets in light of the future introduction of carbon border regulation, company CEO Vladimir Potanin said. The data will be available to the public as well as government agencies.
The project is intended to monitor the results of efforts to reduce emissions of harmful substances and greenhouse gases.
Sulphur dioxide emissions across Nornickel's operations decreased by more than 300,000 tonnes in 2021, to 1.6 million tonnes. Seleznev said the company's Polar Division reduced emissions by 13.7% (1.585 million tonnes) and the Kola MMC plant reduced emissions by 78.4% (15,785 tonnes) by shutting down obsolete production facilities.
The company is completing construction on the first phase of its Sulphur Program at the Nadezhda plant this year, Seleznev aid. Individual tests and commissioning work are scheduled to begin in the summer.
"The objective for emissions for 2022 is to hold at the 2021 level, and in 2023 already be expect a far more substantial effect - the reduction of emissions in Norilsk by 45% compared to baseline 2015, as is envisioned in our program to increase environmental performance," Seleznev said.
At its Copper Plant, this year the company plans to continue working on the necessary documentation and carry out the required expert reviews, as well as select contractors to prepare construction sites.