Горные науки и технологии (Mar 2021)

Impact of technogenic dust pollution from the closed mining enterprise in the Amur Region on the ecosphere and human health

  • N. K. Rastanina,
  • K. A. Kolobanov

DOI
https://doi.org/10.17073/2500-0632-2021-1-16-22
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 1
pp. 16 – 22

Abstract

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Environmental protection is a complex ecological and economic problem, including the need to develop and implement a number of environmental protection measures to mitigate the negative impact of mining waste on all natural environment components and human health. In this regard, the study purpose was to assess the impact of Pb, Cd, Cr, and As compounds on the environment and health of the population of the Solnechny miner’s village. Based on the purpose, the following tasks were set: 1) review and systematization of literature data on the problem of technogenic dust pollution; 2) assessment of the mining industrial system as a source of ecosystem pollution with toxic elements within the closed mining enterprises impact areas; 3) development of proposals for mitigating the impact of mining activities on ecosystems and human health. The paper presents the findings of the study of the elemental status of children and adolescents living within the closed town-forming enterprise JSC Solnechny GOK impact area. The relationship between the level of technogenic pollution of the natural environment and the changes in the elemental status of the children was shown. A feature of the elemental status of the children in the study group was high content of heavy metals, including Pb, Cr, and As. Our research confirmed the data that a growing child’s body actively adsorbs compounds of toxic chemical elements. Deficiency and imbalance of microelements in the body can cause ecologically-related diseases in the child population. Individual and population carcinogenic risks (CR) caused by the As, Pb, and Cr pollution were calculated. In accordance with the acceptance criteria for the risk caused by exposure to the pollutants, the individual carcinogenic risk CR (Cr) = 1,05 · 10–3 belongs to the fourth range and is unacceptable neither for the population, nor for occupational groups. This is De manifestis risk, and when it is reached, it is necessary to carry out emergency curative measures to mitigate it. The individual risks CR (As) = 7,05 · 10–4 also exceed the acceptable level for the population. This level of pollution is subject to permanent monitoring, requires development and implementation of planned curative measures to improve the indicators of the human environment, one of which is the organization of the environmental monitoring system in the study area.

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