All the issues related to upgrading Sverdlovsk Region-based Reftinskaya power station (Enel OGK-5) and introducing the new ways of storing and recycling production waste were dealt with at a recent meeting chaired by the deputy of region’s Legislative Assembly’s House of Representatives Nikolai Krupin. The meeting was attended by mayors of Asbest, Berezovskiy, Malyshev, Reftinskiy, and Sukhoi Log, the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Energy and Communal Housing Services reports.

‘The power station is currently transferring all the pulp into its second ash disposal area, but this particular dump is nearly filled up. This means the problem of waste recycling and of the station being able to operate is a really pressing one,’ says Reftinskaya power station’s Director Nikolai Derkach.

The station’s management claims their new ash disposal system will help avoid putting up a third ash dump, which will save the nearby woods. They intend to use the territory of the existing second dump and to create a facility that will last for forty-five years and will only require 45 hectares of land for the supporting infrastructure.



Meanwhile, a number of local environmental groups insist that this project is bad for the environment and that its implementation has not been properly coordinated with the local dwellers.