Changes in the ecological and geochemical situation within the object of accumulated environmental damage – the former Vostsibelement plant industrial site (2021–2024)

Inclusion in 2024 of the former industrial site of the Vostsibelement plant (Svirsk) in the state register of objects of accumulated environmental damage with the assessment of the amount of its general impact on the environmental safety state of 6.35 is an important result for the ecology of the Baikal region. Such a high assessment determines the priority in the queue for reclamation and is largely based on a large volume of comprehensive initiative ecological-geochemical and engineering-geological studies carried out at the industrial site in 2021-2022 by researchers and students of the Irkutsk National Research Technical University, who were the first to qualify this object of the accumulated damage as highly dangerous. However, due to the continuous economic activity at the industrial site, including active uncontrolled activity on removing metal structures from walls and foundations, which caused redistribution of pollution on the territory, the question arose about the need to update knowledge about the situation at the site. The purpose of the study was to examine the current geoecological situation on the territory of the industrial site of the former Vostsibelement plant. To accomplish the set goal a set of field and laboratory studies was carried out in 2024: 81 samples of technogenic soil were collected and analyzed. Based on the results of the work performed, a comparison was made of the results of ecological and geochemical works conducted in 2021 and 2024. It was shown that the dispersion halos of the main arsenic and heavy metal contamination have noticeably changed. Arsenic concentrations in the surface layer of technogenic soil have increased, which should be taken into consideration when developing a project for engineering and geological works and the liquidation of the studied object.

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