US embassy cable - 05ALMATY2048

UNCLAS  ALMATY 002048 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT PASS TO OPIC - BALLINGER 
DEPT PASS TO TDA FOR STEIN, EXIM FOR GLAZER 
DEPT PASS TO AID - EE - PHILLIPS/RUSHING 
DEPT PASS TO EPA - WFREEMAN 
TREASURY FOR 4231/ITA/MAC/MLONDON, 4201/BISNIS/TGUNN 
USDOC FOR 6110/ITA/TD/BI/RHALPERN 
ANKARA FOR CFC 
TASHKENT FOR EPUTNAM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, SENV, ENRG, EPET, KZ, ECONOMIC, Environment 
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN ENVIRONMENT UPDATE - MAY 2005 
 
 
Summary: This information is drawn primarily from the 
Kazakhstani local press, and has not been verified.  The 
opinions expressed in this report, therefore, should not be 
interpreted by readers as conveying positions and/or policy 
of the U.S. Government. 
 
1. U.S. Grant Finances Feasibility Study for Reconstruction 
of Gas Storage Units in Southern Kazakhstan 
2. Nura River Fish Poisoned With Mercury 
3. Danish Company Ready for De-mercurization Project in 
Temirtau 
4. Kazakhstan Ranks Third Globally in Nuclear Fuel 
Production 
5. Central Asian Conference on Renewable Energy Set for 
November 2005 
6. New Textbook on Ecology Compiled in Central Asia 
7. International Experts Train Kazakhstani Scientists to 
Detect, Guard Radioactive Material 
8. Mazhilis Approves Draft Law on Ecological Audits 
9. First Part of Syr Darya and Northern Aral Sea Project to 
Be Completed Soon 
10. New Gas Treating Unit to Be Tested At Mittal Steel 
Temirtau in September 
 
U.S. Grant Finances Feasibility Study for Reconstruction of 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
Gas Storage Units in Southern Kazakhstan 
---------------------------------------- 
 
1. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is 
providing a $640,000 grant to modernize the Poltoratskoye 
and Akyrtobe underground gas storage units (in Southern 
Kazakhstan and Zhambyl oblasts respectively).  Kazakhstan's 
First Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources 
Baktyrgozha Izmukhambetov and Ambassador Ordway signed a 
relevant agreement on May 11, the ministry's press service 
reported.  The cost of the feasibility study, which will be 
implemented by BSI Industries, is $912,426, including 
$272,426 provided by the company (Interfax-Kazakhstan, May 
11, 2005). 
 
 
Nura River Fish Poisoned with Mercury 
------------------------------------- 
 
2.  Fish caught in the Nura River are poisoned with mercury 
- a grave consequence of carbide production in Temirtau. 
According to ecologists, the Samarkand and Intumak 
reservoirs on the outskirts of Temirtau have concentrations 
of 0.10-0.76 mg of mercury per kilogram of water.  A dose of 
0.006 mg per day is considered dangerous to human health. 
Nevertheless, people living in the area have to use Nura 
water in their vegetable gardens (Megapolis, April 30, 
2005). 
 
 
Danish Company Ready for De-mercurization Project in 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Temirtau 
-------- 
 
3. The Danish company "COWI" plans to clean up the mercury- 
contaminated premises of the former "Carbide" plant as well 
as the Alash industrial waste treatment plant. The company 
also plans to build a hazardous waste site in the Apan area. 
This site, which will be ready in 2006, will be used for 
safe storage of contaminated materials.  The hazardous waste 
site will be used from 2007 through 2009.  The waste site 
will be cleaned and rehabilitated in 2010.  The total cost 
of the project is $31 million. (Karaganda News, May 6, 
2005). 
 
 
Kazakhstan Ranks Third Globally in Nuclear Fuel Production 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
4. According to the U.S.-based trade publication UX Weekly, 
Kazakhstan ranks third in the world in uranium production. 
In 2004, Kazakhstan produced 3,719 tons - 9.4% of the 
world's volume.  The leading uranium producer is Canada 
(29.2% share); Australia ranks second (22.6%). 
The National Atomic Company Kazatomprom's production in 2004 
 
was 3,363 tons. By 2010, it plans to produce 15,000 tons per 
year, which would make Kazakhstan the world's top producer 
(www.gazeta.kz, Kazakhstan today, May 3, 2005). 
 
 
Central Asian Conference on Renewable Energy Set for 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
November 2005 
------------- 
 
5. On November 14-15, 2005, the Central Asian Conference on 
Renewable Energy will take place in Karaganda. It is 
organized by the Karaganda Oblast Ecological Museum, 
Ukraine's Agency on Renewable Energy and INFORSE of Denmark. 
The first day of the conference will be devoted to the 
status of and prospects for development of all types of 
renewable energy.  The second day will be devoted to the 
prospects for developing biogas technology in Central Asia 
(www. earthwire.org/kz, May 15, 2005). 
 
 
New Textbook on Ecology Compiled In Central Asia 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
6. Recently, the program for Central Asian Regional Economic 
Cooperation (CAREC) conducted its final meeting on its 
ecological education program, which has been implemented in 
2004-2005 with the support of the Embassy of Great Britain 
and UNESCO.  The goal of the project is distribution of new 
Kazakhstani ecology textbooks in Central Asian schools.  The 
textbooks were compiled according to new educational 
standards that envision the active participation of pupils 
in environmental protection and the development of ecology- 
mindedness in the young (Panorama, May 6, 2005). 
 
 
International Experts Train Kazakhstani Scientists to 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Detect, Guard Radioactive Material 
---------------------------------- 
 
7. Experts from Australia and the U.S. conducted a five-day 
training course for nuclear companies of Kazakhstan that 
covered the detection and securing of radioactive materials. 
"Training participants are learning to detect radioactive 
sources using the equipment supplied by American 
colleagues," according to a press release from Kazakhstan's 
Institute of Nuclear Physics.  After the seminar, the 
equipment was donated to the Kazakhstani organizations 
taking part in the training.  The training was conducted by 
American experts from the National Nuclear Security 
Administration and the Sandia, Oak Ridge and Argonne 
National Laboratories, and Australian specialists from a 
Canberra-based company (Interfax-Kazakhstan, May 17, 2005). 
 
 
Mazhilis Approves Draft Law on Ecological Audits 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
8. On May 18, Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) deputies 
approved a draft law amending Kazakhstan's legislation on 
ecological audits.   The main goal of the draft law is to 
establish the legal and organizational bases of ecological 
audits.  According to the Minister of Environmental 
Protection, Aitkul Samakova, the draft law elaborates the 
concept and goals of the ecological audit.  In particular, 
ecological audits are necessary to reveal and assess 
ecological risks as well as to improve the process for 
developing recommendations on ecological security. 
According to the draft law, the central executive body on 
environmental protection is vested with the additional 
functions of evaluating auditors and determining the need 
for mandatory ecological audits.  Mandatory audits are 
carried out in limited cases, e.g. in cases of environmental 
damage, for the purpose of increasing the ecological 
security of an enterprise's activities and in the case of 
reorganization or bankruptcy of an enterprise (Gazeta.kz, 
May 18, 2005). 
 
 
First Part of Syr Darya and Northern Aral Sea Project to Be 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
Completed Soon 
-------------- 
 
9. The first stage of the project to regulate the Syr Darya 
river-bed and Northern Aral Sea, which is being implemented 
by the GOK and financed by the World Bank, is about to be 
completed, said the World Bank's Permanent Representative in 
Kazakhstan, Loup Brefort.  The cost of the project is $85.79 
million.  It is co-financed by the World Bank ($64.5 
million) and GOK ($21.29 million).  The goal of the project 
is the conservation of the northern Aral Sea and the 
enhancement of the environmental situation in the Syr Darya 
river ecosystem.  According to GOK official Anatoly 
Ryabtsev, one of the main facilities involved in the project 
- the hydraulic structure "Aitek" has been put into 
operation, at a cost of $11.6 million.  The construction of 
a new dam in the Northern Aral, the Aklak hydraulic power 
system, will be completed this autumn (Gazeta.kz, May 18, 
2005). 
 
 
New Gas Treatment Unit to Be Tested At Mittal Steel 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Temirtau in September 
--------------------- 
 
10. A new gas treatment facility that would effectively 
recycle waste gases will be tested in September at the 
Mittal Steel Temirtau metallurgical plant (previously known 
as Ispat-Karmet).  "The industrial module of the facility 
will be ready in September, and we will test it at the 
plant," said the facility's inventor Alexander Borisenko. 
The first vice president of Kazakhstan's National 
Engineering Academy, Nadir Nadirov, called the technology 
invented by Borisenko "revolutionary" and said that "mankind 
has waited long" for this invention (Interfax-Kazakhstan, 
May 19, 2005). 
 
Asquino 
 
 
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