An inspection conducted by Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities for the environment at Reftinskaya power station (a subsidiary of Enel OGK-5) revealed some grave violations of the environmental legislation.

The power station in question is one the largest heat and power stations meant for supplying electric power to the industrially developed areas in the region and for supplying heat to the village of Reftinsky. The power station is a subsidiary of Enel OGK-5, has headquarters in Moscow), and belongs to the Italian company Enel.

All in all, over fifty violations of the environmental legislation were disclosed, including the legislation on atmospheric air protection, industrial and consumption waste treatment, and water law.

For one, Reftinskaya power station takes water from and dumps manufacturing water into Reftinskoye reservoir, the River Reft, and the River Poludenka. The company dumped a total of over 19m cubic meters of manufacturing water in 2011. Despite what Articles 39, 44, 55, and 56 of Russia’s Water Code state, the power station dumps water whose vanadium and manganese contents greatly exceed the maximum permissible discharge limits (the figures for manganese are exceeded by 180 times, those for vanadium are exceeded by 68 times).

What is more, the inspection revealed that the maintenance of the power station’s wash water reservoir does not meet the environmental safety requirements. Last year’s tests proved that the background concentrations of soil and ground water pollutants were exceeded (the figures for mineral products were exceeded by 10.22 times, those for mercury by 12.57 times, those for fluorides by 5.15 times, those for chrome by 2.23 times, and those for sulphates by 133.35 times).