ASSESSMENT OF ENERGY-RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS DURING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROMISING PROJECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEPOSITS IN THE ARCTIC TERRITORIES OF THE RUSSIAN EASTERN REGIONS

The ecological aspects of the functioning of energy facilities in the Arctic zones of the eastern regions of Russia are of increasing importance for the strategic interests of the country, on the one hand, and due to the specific features of territories with a weak ability to restore the natural environment, on the other hand. The studies carried out at the Energy Systems Institute of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences revealed the fact that the current environmental situation in the eastern regions of the Arctic is unfavorable.

Promising projects for the development of mineral deposits are associated with an increase in the consumption of all types of energy resources. In addition, this will require intensive development of the energy sector: from the expansion of existing power facilities to the construction of new ones using associated petroleum gas, and possibly LNG. In general, the implementation of projects will lead to the following distribution of the total emission of pollutants from the energy sector: 47% — the Taimyr-Turukhan zone, 30% — the North Yakutsk zone with a predominant contribution from coal-fired boilers, and, accordingly, 23% of all emissions will enter the atmosphere of the Chukotka zone, where coal-fired boiler houses also prevail.

With the implementation of advanced development projects, CO2 emissions will also increase from 7 to 16.6 million tons with their predominance in the Taimyr-Turukhan zone (11,9 million tons).

Thus, the assessment of the environmental impact from the development of promising deposits in the Arctic territories of the eastern regions of Russia has shown that the emissions of pollutants will increase by 1.6-1.8 times, and those of carbon dioxide by 2.2-2.3 times. Given that the particulate matter will remain the main impurity in the composition of pollutants (up to 35-37%) due to the existing power facilities, coal-fired thermal power plants and boiler houses need a large-scale modernization of the collection equipment. Sulfur dioxides are becoming another predominant impurity, mainly due to newly commissioned facilities running on associated petroleum gas. Therefore, it is necessary to envisage measures to reduce them.

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