Dzerzhinsk, Russia
Encyclopedia
Dzerzhinsk is a city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
, Russia
, situated along the Oka River
, about 400 kilometres (248.5 mi) east of Moscow
. Population:
The city is named after Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, a Polish Bolshevik leader who was the first head of the Cheka
(secret police
).
Modern-day Dzerzhinsk is a large center of the Russian chemicals production industry. In the past, the city was also among Russia's principal production sites for chemical weapons. Owing to its strategic significance, this city was until recently officially closed
to foreign visitors.
- the poisonous effects of which are owed to its arsenic trioxide content — and yperite (mustard gas). The factory producing these substances was called the Kaprolactam (or Caprolaktam) Organic Glass Factory, and in addition to its arsenic
-based weapons, also produced prussic acid and phosgene
.
Chemical weapons production at Dzerzhinsk ceased in 1965. Some materials were transferred to storage units, while large amounts of waste material — frequently containing high concentrations of arsenic
- were buried in dumps on the site of the factory. Full dismantling of the yperite facility was commenced in 1994. As of 1998, the lewisite production unit was still not completely disassembled.
As of 2008, Dzerzhinsk has thirty-eight large industrial enterprises, which export their goods worldwide. About one thousand varieties of chemical products are produced in Dzerzhinsk. The largest factories, which presently exist or existed in the past, include:
(United States), Dzerzhinsk is one of the worst polluted cities of the world and has a life expectancy of 42 years for men and 47 for women, with the 2003 death rate exceeding its birth rate by 260%. Environmental action groups such as Greenpeace
attribute such low life expectancy to high levels of persistent organic chemicals
, particularly dioxins. Blacksmith Institute also names sarin
, lewisite
, sulfur mustard
, hydrogen cyanide, phosgene
, lead
, and organic chemicals among the worst pollutants. Parts of Dzerzhinsk's water are contaminated with dioxins and phenol
at levels that are reportedly seventeen million times the safe limit.
Dzerzhinsk's environmental agency estimates that almost 300,000 tons of chemical waste were dumped in the city between 1930 and 1998. The Ecology Committee of the Russian State Duma
also considers Dzerzhinsk among the top ten cities with disastrous ecological conditions.
Dzerzhinsk City Administration, however, asserts that the Blacksmith Institute report is false, stating, for example, that since sarin had never been produced in the city, it cannot be one of the major pollutants. Also, according to the city Health Department, average life expectancy in the city was 64 years in 2006. Askhat Kayumkov, the head of the Dront public ecological organization, which was quoted as a source by Blacksmith Institute, states that his organization never provided Blacksmith Institute with data of any kind. Furthermore, he does not believe that Dzerzhinsk is one of the most polluted cities in Russia, much less in the whole world.
Additionally, a 2000 audit report by the Audiekometal organization, based in Moscow, asserts that for the past ten years Dzerzhinsk has not made it to the top ten most polluted cities of the Russian Federation, and that the level of pollution in the city is moderate.
In the end, however, despite the ecological situation in the city being at its best in the past eighty years (mostly due to bankruptcies and closures of the polluting factories), several locations in the city pose a tangible ecological risk. These sites include the landfill, toxic waste burial grounds, and a so-called "white sea," composed of disposed chemical wastes. These sites are kept under constant ecological monitoring.
built by the Soviet engineer and scientist Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov
in 1929 is located near the town of Dzerzhinsk on the left bank of the Oka River
.
, Bulgaria
Bitterfeld
, Germany
L'Eliana
, Spain
Krasnoperekopsk
, Ukraine
Marmaris
, Turkey
Montana, Bulgaria
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Population: The oblast is crossed by the Volga River. Apart from Nizhny Novgorod's metropolitan area, the biggest city is Arzamas...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, situated along the Oka River
Oka River
Oka is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga. Its length exceeds...
, about 400 kilometres (248.5 mi) east of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Population:
The city is named after Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, a Polish Bolshevik leader who was the first head of the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
(secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
).
Modern-day Dzerzhinsk is a large center of the Russian chemicals production industry. In the past, the city was also among Russia's principal production sites for chemical weapons. Owing to its strategic significance, this city was until recently officially closed
Closed city
A closed city or closed town is a settlement with travel and residency restrictions in the Soviet Union and some of its successor countries. In modern Russia, such places are officially known as "closed administrative-territorial formations" ....
to foreign visitors.
Chemical weapons and other production
Manufacture of a number of chemical weapons started in 1941, particularly concentrating on the production of lewisiteLewisite
Lewisite is an organoarsenic compound, specifically an arsine. It was once manufactured in the U.S. and Japan as a chemical weapon, acting as a vesicant and lung irritant...
- the poisonous effects of which are owed to its arsenic trioxide content — and yperite (mustard gas). The factory producing these substances was called the Kaprolactam (or Caprolaktam) Organic Glass Factory, and in addition to its arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
-based weapons, also produced prussic acid and phosgene
Phosgene
Phosgene is the chemical compound with the formula COCl2. This colorless gas gained infamy as a chemical weapon during World War I. It is also a valued industrial reagent and building block in synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds. In low concentrations, its odor resembles...
.
Chemical weapons production at Dzerzhinsk ceased in 1965. Some materials were transferred to storage units, while large amounts of waste material — frequently containing high concentrations of arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
- were buried in dumps on the site of the factory. Full dismantling of the yperite facility was commenced in 1994. As of 1998, the lewisite production unit was still not completely disassembled.
As of 2008, Dzerzhinsk has thirty-eight large industrial enterprises, which export their goods worldwide. About one thousand varieties of chemical products are produced in Dzerzhinsk. The largest factories, which presently exist or existed in the past, include:
- SverdlovYakov SverdlovYakov Mikhaylovich Sverdlov ; known under pseudonyms "Andrei", "Mikhalych", "Max", "Smirnov", "Permyakov" — 16 March 1919) was a Bolshevik party leader and an official of the Russian Soviet Republic.-Early life:...
Plant, FSE (Federal State Enterprise) manufactures munitions, battle and industrial explosives, and chemicals for industrial purposes (phenol-formaldehyde resin, epoxy resin, carbamide-furane resin, plasticizers, hardeners of various modifications, nitrobenzeneNitrobenzeneNitrobenzene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5NO2. It is a water-insoluble pale yellow oil with an almond-like odor. It freezes to give greenish-yellow crystals. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to aniline. Although occasionally used as a flavoring or perfume...
, sulphanole, acetic anhydrideAcetic anhydrideAcetic anhydride, or ethanoic anhydride, is the chemical compound with the formula 2O. Commonly abbreviated Ac2O, it is the simplest isolatable acid anhydride and is a widely used reagent in organic synthesis...
, various cleaners and detergents, as well as other products). The plant is included in the presidential list of the country's strategic enterprises. This is Dzerzhinsk's largest factory. - Korund, JSC (opened in 1915, the first factory in Russia to produce cyanideCyanideA cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
, still operational). This plant produces corundumCorundumCorundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide with traces of iron, titanium and chromium. It is a rock-forming mineral. It is one of the naturally clear transparent materials, but can have different colors when impurities are present. Transparent specimens are used as gems, called ruby if red...
for lasers and other applications. It is the oldest enterprise in Dzerzhinsk. In 2004, the plant was temporarily closed due to bankruptcy. - Kaprolaktam, JSC. After having been transformed into a manufacturer of chemicals equipment, hydrochloric acidHydrochloric acidHydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....
, ethylene oxideEthylene oxideEthylene oxide, also called oxirane, is the organic compound with the formula . It is a cyclic ether. This means that it is composed of two alkyl groups attached to an oxygen atom in a cyclic shape . This colorless flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor is the simplest epoxide, a three-membered...
, polymerPolymerA polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
pellicle, and plastic products, it is now associated with NORSI (Nizhny Novgorod Orgsintes) Orgsteklo group. Over $15 million was invested into this joint venture by Wella AG, a GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
personal care products company. The output includes soaps, acrylic glassAcrylic glassPoly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
, and car parts. - Dzerzhinskhimmash, JSC (opened in 1941, currently makes distillation and сolumn equipment, evaporators, heat exchangers).
- Sintez, JSC. Produces acetoneAcetoneAcetone is the organic compound with the formula 2CO, a colorless, mobile, flammable liquid, the simplest example of the ketones.Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes in the laboratory...
, carbonyl ironCarbonyl ironCarbonyl iron is a highly pure iron, prepared by chemical decomposition of purified iron pentacarbonyl. It usually has the appearance of grey powder, composed of spherical microparticles. Most of the impurities are carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen.BASF invented carbonyl iron powder in 1925, and claims...
, diethanolamine, isopropanol, methylamineMethylamineMethylamine is the organic compound with a formula of CH3NH2. This colourless gas is a derivative of ammonia, but with one H atom replaced by a methyl group. It is the simplest primary amine. It is sold as a solution in methanol, ethanol, THF, and water, or as the anhydrous gas in pressurized...
, phenolPhenolPhenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...
, etc. - Orgsteklo, JSC (previously manufactured specialist glass for the aeronautics market, currently specializes in production of acrylic co-polymers and organic glasses).
- Avangard-KNAUF, JSC
- Liebherr, JSC
- Plastik, JSC
- Aviabor, JSC
- Sibur-Nevtechim, JSC
- Oka, Yava, Orgsitilen, Zarya (no longer functioning).
Pollution
According to September 12, 2007, study by Blacksmith InstituteBlacksmith Institute
Founded in 1999, Blacksmith Institute is an international non-for-profit organization dedicated to eliminating life-threatening pollution in the developing world. Blacksmith identifies and cleans up the world's worst polluted places, focusing on communities where children are most at risk. Based in...
(United States), Dzerzhinsk is one of the worst polluted cities of the world and has a life expectancy of 42 years for men and 47 for women, with the 2003 death rate exceeding its birth rate by 260%. Environmental action groups such as Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
attribute such low life expectancy to high levels of persistent organic chemicals
Persistent organic pollutant
thumb|right|275px|State parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic PollutantsPersistent organic pollutants are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes...
, particularly dioxins. Blacksmith Institute also names sarin
Sarin
Sarin, or GB, is an organophosphorus compound with the formula [2CHO]CH3PF. It is a colorless, odorless liquid, which is used as a chemical weapon. It has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687...
, lewisite
Lewisite
Lewisite is an organoarsenic compound, specifically an arsine. It was once manufactured in the U.S. and Japan as a chemical weapon, acting as a vesicant and lung irritant...
, sulfur mustard
Sulfur mustard
The sulfur mustards, or sulphur mustards, commonly known as mustard gas, are a class of related cytotoxic, vesicant chemical warfare agents with the ability to form large blisters on exposed skin. Pure sulfur mustards are colorless, viscous liquids at room temperature...
, hydrogen cyanide, phosgene
Phosgene
Phosgene is the chemical compound with the formula COCl2. This colorless gas gained infamy as a chemical weapon during World War I. It is also a valued industrial reagent and building block in synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds. In low concentrations, its odor resembles...
, lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
, and organic chemicals among the worst pollutants. Parts of Dzerzhinsk's water are contaminated with dioxins and phenol
Phenol
Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...
at levels that are reportedly seventeen million times the safe limit.
Dzerzhinsk's environmental agency estimates that almost 300,000 tons of chemical waste were dumped in the city between 1930 and 1998. The Ecology Committee of the Russian State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
also considers Dzerzhinsk among the top ten cities with disastrous ecological conditions.
Dzerzhinsk City Administration, however, asserts that the Blacksmith Institute report is false, stating, for example, that since sarin had never been produced in the city, it cannot be one of the major pollutants. Also, according to the city Health Department, average life expectancy in the city was 64 years in 2006. Askhat Kayumkov, the head of the Dront public ecological organization, which was quoted as a source by Blacksmith Institute, states that his organization never provided Blacksmith Institute with data of any kind. Furthermore, he does not believe that Dzerzhinsk is one of the most polluted cities in Russia, much less in the whole world.
Additionally, a 2000 audit report by the Audiekometal organization, based in Moscow, asserts that for the past ten years Dzerzhinsk has not made it to the top ten most polluted cities of the Russian Federation, and that the level of pollution in the city is moderate.
In the end, however, despite the ecological situation in the city being at its best in the past eighty years (mostly due to bankruptcies and closures of the polluting factories), several locations in the city pose a tangible ecological risk. These sites include the landfill, toxic waste burial grounds, and a so-called "white sea," composed of disposed chemical wastes. These sites are kept under constant ecological monitoring.
Sights
The unique architectural construction – the 128 m steel lattice hyperboloid towerHyperboloid structure
Hyperboloid structures are architectural structures designed with hyperboloid geometry. Often these are tall structures such as towers where the hyperboloid geometry's structural strength is used to support an object high off the ground, but hyperboloid geometry is also often used for decorative...
built by the Soviet engineer and scientist Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov
Vladimir Shukhov
Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov , was a Russian engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for structural engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of world's first hyperboloid structures, lattice shell structures, tensile...
in 1929 is located near the town of Dzerzhinsk on the left bank of the Oka River
Oka River
Oka is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga. Its length exceeds...
.
In Russia
- MaloyaroslavetsMaloyaroslavetsMaloyaroslavets is a town in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Luzha River , southwest of Moscow and northeast of Kaluga. Population: 21,200 ....
- IvanovoIvanovoIvanovo is a city and the administrative center of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. Population: Ivanovo has traditionally been called the textile capital of Russia. Since most textile workers are women, it has also been known as the "City of Brides"...
- Gus Khrustalny
- Ozery
- SoligalichSoligalichSoligalich is a town and the administrative center of Soligalichsky District of Kostroma Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kostroma River. Population: -History:...
- ZarechnyZarechnyZarechny , Zarechnaya , or Zarechnoye may refer to:*Zarechny , name of several inhabited localities in Russia...
- G.Gubkin
- BelomorskBelomorskBelomorsk is a town and the administrative center of Belomorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Onega Bay on the shore of the White Sea. Population:...
Abroad
BerkovitsaBerkovitsa
Berkovitsa is a town and ski resort in northwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Berkovitsa Municipality, Montana Province and is close to the town of Varshets...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
Bitterfeld
Bitterfeld
Bitterfeld is a town in the district Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2007 it has been part of the town Bitterfeld-Wolfen. It is situated approx. 25 km south of Dessau, and 30 km northeast of Halle...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
L'Eliana
L'Eliana
L'Eliana is a municipality in the comarca of Camp de Túria in the Valencian Community, Spain.- Neighborhoods :* Casco Antiguo** Les Casetes** La Fonda** Estació* Almassereta* Montesol* Montealegre* MontePilar* Torre del Virrey* Pinaeta del Cel...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Krasnoperekopsk
Krasnoperekopsk
Krasnoperekopsk is a city in Crimea, Ukraine which is located on the southern part of the Perekop Isthmus, on the shore of the Stare lake, and about from the Crimean capital, Simferopol...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
Marmaris
Marmaris
Marmaris is a port city and a tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in southwest Turkey, in Muğla Province.Marmaris' main source of income is tourism. Little is left of the sleepy fishing village that Marmaris was just a few decades ago after a construction boom in the 1980s...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
Montana, Bulgaria
Montana, Bulgaria
- Elite High Scools :*Foreign Language HS "Petar Bogdan". Emphasis on English and German language proficiency. Recognized and praised for its scholars' academic accomplishments worldwide. http://gpchemont.com/sitegpche/...