Problems
Mercury Hotspot in Kiev
The hotspot of chemical pollution has unfolded right in the capital of Ukraine - the city of Kyiv. The level of concentration of hazardous substances on the territory of the capital's plant "Radical" and the adjacent region within a radius of 300 m exceeds the permissible norms in places up to 145 times in the air and 35 times in the soil. Thus, mercury accumulates in the environment and harms the ecology of the city, as well as the health of its population.
The Danger of Mercury to City Residents
It is common knowledge that mercury is a metal that can have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive, and immune systems, as well as on the lungs, kidneys, skin, and eyes. Everyone knows the danger of a mercury thermometer breaking in a room and a few grams of toxic metal spilling on the floor. Consequently, it's not difficult to imagine what kind of hazard the territory of OJSC "Radikal" located in the middle of residential and public buildings, near the metro station "Chernihivska", shopping and business centers, sports facilities, and busy streets, which daily move hundreds of thousands of people - which was subjected to mercury pollution, and its concentration in the soil and the air for a long time in a few tens of times higher than the maximum allowable concentration, poses for residents of Kyiv. At present, the volume of mercury-containing waste, which must be removed from the territory of Radical OJSC, is about 200 thousand tons, of which 10 thousand tons are heavily saturated with mercury, which can have a toxic effect on the health of citizens and the environment.
Access to the territory of the plant is open to all
The danger of the territory of Radical lies not only in the presence of toxic chemicals on it but also in the possibility of any person going there and being in the epicenter of the toxic focus. The deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) Petr Panteleev answered the question of why the Radikal plant territory is not guarded and children and stalkers can get into it. "The plant does not have a responsible owner who can perform the role of preservation of the territory and other functions. Liquidators changed, but the situation remained. Periodically, by the city's forces, we have put barriers and will put them so that people do not go to dangerous areas," he said. However, as of today, the area is still open to all.
Gallery
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Timelines
2023
April
The "Radykal" plant, or rather the hundreds of hectares of mercury-contaminated land under it, were repeatedly tried to be built into residential buildings by various capital developers. From year to year, scandals and protests arose around this tasty piece of land in the Desnyan district of the capital, the last time in 2019. But now, during the war, when the attention of the authorities and law enforcement officers is focused on the defense of the country, the capital officials seem to have taken up the old ways again. And although the liquidation of the consequences of chemical production was carried out at the level of the Cabinet of Ministers, and these works took more than six years back in the 2000s, today there are probably ten to several tens of tons of mercury remaining in the soil on the territory of the plant. And the biggest danger is the electrolysis shop, where there are still mercury residues. Despite this, in 2017 it became known about the construction of the Urban Park residential complex at 5 Magnitogorska Street. The project was started by the scandalous "Ukrbud" of Maksym Mykytas. This development is being carried out in the same quarter as the territory of the Radykal plant and is directly adjacent to it. A source from the Kyiv authorities in the capital's city council claims that since no one is protesting against "Urban Park" and ecological problems do not concern developers who are greedy for money, they now want to significantly expand the territory of mercury land development. It is being prepared to give them under the announced development through a new auction to a predetermined "winner". In the meantime, the KMDA is preparing a change in the target use of the land and a corresponding permit for future construction," said a source in the city council.
2022
December
The mass media reported that the level of mercury concentration in the atmospheric air on the territory and the vicinity of JSC "Radykal" exceeded the regulatory maximum permissible limit by 2.1 to 145 times. The mass fraction of mercury in the soil on these lands probably exceeds the normative indicators by 5.8 to 35.4 times, and the contamination of the storage site with mercury-containing substances near Radykal totals 21.5 thousand m2 and a volume of almost 113 thousand m3.
February 07
The content of mercury in the air exceeds the norm by 3.7-86 times, according to the latest measurements by the laboratory of the Kyiv Rescue Service. Kyiv Rescue Service (subordinated to the city of Kyiv) denies: mercury vapors are present only 10 meters around the destroyed electrolysis plant. At a distance of 2 km from Radykal the contamination was also not detected, according to a study by the Institute of Public Health named after Marzeyev of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Marzeyev Institute of Public Health of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. "Most of the toxic chemicals have not been removed from the territory of the plant, work on demercurization of immovable property has not been carried out, and the territory has not been cleaned from hazardous waste and garbage."
January 31
The level of mercury concentration in the atmospheric air on the territory and near the territory of JSC "Radykal" exceeds from 2.1 to 145 times the normative maximum permissible limit. The percentage content of mercury in the soil also does not meet the normative values and exceeds the normative values from 5.8 to 35.4 times. Contamination of storage place mercury-containing substances was found on two land plots on the territory of the electrolysis shop with a total area of 10 102 m2 and estimated volume of 53 632 m3, three land plots on the territory of sludge collector (sludge field) with a total area 11 609 m2 and estimated volume 58 045 m3. This territory has been polluted and continues to pose a danger to the inhabitants of Kyiv for several decades.
2021
October 05
The city authorities applied to the government for a joint solution to the problem of mercury disposal and received a positive response. At this stage, there is an instruction from the prime minister to create a state program for recycling the hazardous waste in the Radical plant area. It is not just a question of removal and storage, but to ensure proper processing of all residual waste of hazard class 4. The city has a technical solution, which has already been developed and is based on real international experience, and the authorities are ready to work actively.
2020
February 26
The cost of disposal of mercury substances abroad, according to preliminary estimates, is more than 1.3 billion UAH - the budget of Kyiv will not be able to allocate such an amount for the rehabilitation of those areas of the plant "Radikal", which are affected by mercury. "The Kyiv council has already repeatedly allocated funds for demercurization work. The 2020 budget also includes 9 million UAH to finance design work at the site. At the same time, the municipality can not allocate "Radical" even part of the funds, because it is a private enterprise, whose activities have not been suspended because of the accounts payable, which is more than 6 million hryvnias," - said the deputy of the Kyiv Council. "To carry out reclamation, toxic substances need to be exported abroad or develop their own facilities. There are suitable enterprises in England and France." However, considering the cost of this measure, the Kyiv authorities can not allocate such money for the reclamation of the plant.
2018
April 04
Despite the danger of chemical exposure to mercury, the Radical plant territory is used as storage and office space. According to the latest measuring results, mercury concentration in the territory of the plant "Radical" exceeds the maximum allowable norm by 30 times, and the concentration of toxic substances in the soil - is 14,5 times. Lethal doses of supertoxic substances are everywhere: the air, soil, walls of buildings, and metal structures piled on the site are saturated with them. Environmentalists suspect that this chemical cocktail has long been leaking into the wastewater.
2017
June 04
The city budget of Kyiv will provide 4.5 million hryvnias for environmental protection measures to remove part of the hazardous waste from the territory of the "Radikal" plant. This was announced by Petro Panteleev, Deputy Chairman of the KMDA, during a meeting of the Permanent Commission on Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergency Situations.
2012
October 17
The Kyiv city administration started cleaning the territory of the Radykal plant in the Darnitsa district of toxic substances. Currently, about 50 tons of chlorine-containing substances remain on the territory of the plant. In 2013, it is planned to remove soil, equipment, and metal structures contaminated with mercury (more than 200 000 tons). The program is designed for five years.
2010
March 01
The city council handed over a site in the Dneprovsky district of the capital, which was in the use of OJSC Radikal, to the utility company Zhytloinvestbud-UKB for housing development. As previously reported, in May last year, in the Desnyansky district of Kyiv, hundreds of kilograms of mercury were stored right under the open sky on the territory of the abandoned Radikal plant. The Ministry of Emergency Situations confirmed the presence of hazardous chemicals at an abandoned Kiev plant.
2006
February 10
In 2006, 127,000 kg of mercury and 96 tons of mercury-contaminated equipment were removed from the factory. Nevertheless, about 6-7 tons of mercury remained.
2002
February 01
In August 2000, the Kyiv arbitration court ruled that OJSC Radykal was declared bankrupt and liquidation proceedings were initiated against it. By a decision of February 1, 2002, the court declared the bankrupt OJSC Radykal a particularly hazardous chemical enterprise and appointed a rehabilitation manager to control the level of chemical contamination at the plant.