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Bq/kg Becquerel per kilogramme
CMS Contaminated Military Site
EU European Union
GOST former Soviet Standard for the assessment of soil and groundwater quality
ha Hectare
PHARE EU-Funding Programme for Eastern Europe
SCS Suspected Contaminated Site
TPH Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons
USD United States Dollar
The Republic of Lithuania (in this report referred to as Lithuania) is the
southernmost of the three Baltic States. It is bounded by the Baltic Sea to the
West, Latvia to the north, Belarus in the East, and Poland and Kaliningrad to
the South.
Lithuania covers an area of approximately 65,000 square kilometres and has a
total population of 3,740,000 (1994). The largest city and capital of
Lithuania is Vilnius with a population just under 600,000. Approximately 70% of
the population lives in urban areas. Lithuania consists of eight regions.
Since 1940 Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union. It regained its
independence in 1991. Former Soviet troops left Lithuania till the end of
August 1993. Before leaving Lithuania, the former Soviet troops had occupied
67,762 ha, i.e. approx. 11 percent of the total area of Lithuania with more
than 400 installations at 275 military sites.
An overview of the size of military sites in Lithuania is given below:
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In Lithuania,there is no official definition of contaminated sites or more
specifically, contaminated military site (CMS). As a consequence, there is also
no offcial understanding of what is to be considered a suspected contaminated
site (SCS) or suspected contaminated military site. For the purpose of this
report, an SCS is defined as an area which due to past operations or disposal
practices has the potential to be contaminated unless proven otherwise.
Contamination means that anthropogenic substances have impacted the ground and
as a result, concentration levels of these substances are above natural
background values.
Legal Framework
In 1991 Lithguania adopted a law on environmental protection. In 1994, the
Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Environmental Protection confirmed a
specific need for environmental protection measures for the Lithuanian Forces.
Consequently, an environmental protection programme has been initiated which
is now being developed. The programme aims at removal of the prime
contamination sources and improvement of environmental conditions at military
bases. Within the period 1995 to 2000 it is envisaged to stop current
pollution, to implement pollution prevention measures and to undertake
investigations aiming at remedial planning. Within the military, ecologists are
working in each unit and sub-unit under the coordination of the Chief Ecologist
of the General Staff. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has a Civil
Safety Department with regional sections and assisstance teams.
Although, the clean-up of military sites in Lithuania is not required by law,
there are several government decisions (i.e. Order by Ministry) which require
the clean-up of 10 specific military sites which are perceived to pose a threat
to the public.
The authorities reponsible for overseeing clean-up measures are the eight
regional branches of the Environment Commission.. In cases where imminent
risks are posed to human health from a contaminanted site, the Ministry of
Health is involved in addition to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and
its agencies.
Responsibility for Military Sites
Ownership of most of the former Soviet military sites in Lithuania has been
transferred to the respective local municipalities. However, in some cases -
e.g. as far as still active military sites are concerned - the State has taken
over the sites or - e.g. in the case of the fuel terminal in Klapeida - private
companies have acquired the sites.
The responsibility for the investigation of all military sites lies with the
Ministry of Environmental Protection in Vilnius. The work performed to date
primarily refers to preliminary assessments of environmental impacts at the
Soviet military sites in Lithuania and has been coordinated by the Ministry of
Environmental Protection. Several local institutions, e.g. the Institute of
Geography, were involved in the environmental inspection work. In addition, the
local company Baltic Consulting Group and the Danish company Kruger Consult
were retained to assist and supervise the site inspections and investigations
(see Sub-sections 12.-7.1 and 12.-7.2). The responsibility for clean-up lies
with the respective landowner. As far as active military sites currently used
by the Lithuanian military are concerned, the Ministry of Defence has the
responsibility for clean-up. There is an environmental officer on each active
military site who reports to the Ministry of Environmental Protection on
monitoring and clean-up activities.
In general, the state budget for managment of contaminated military sites is
rather limited.
The Lithuanian government received funding from the EU PHARE Programme for the
inventory and investigation of CMS. Clean-up is financed by the respective site
owner, i.e. the private land owners in the case of the fuel terminals.
Additionally, limited funding for clean-up is available through the national
environmental protection fund.
According to a resolution adopted by Lithuania, there is a provision for the
use of budgetary funds and of foreign loans by the government or guaranteed by
the governement for environmental protection and remedial measures, including
for work at military sites.
General
First of all, all former military sites were registered. This step included a
visual site inspection during which suspected contaminated sites (SCS) were
identified. This step was followed by very limited soil sampling of the upper
soil layer on these SCS. The following presents the results of these visual
site inspections, i.e. suspected contamination and number of SCS for each type
of contamination:
Type of Contaminants Number of SCS
Petroleum Products 566
Bacteria 137
Chemicals 56
Mechanical disturbances to soil 778
Damaged forest 249
Landscape disturbance 438
Radioactivity 9
Rocket propellant 20
Explosives 12
Wastes 478
TOTAL 2,743 SCS
The individual SCS were screened for suspected contaminants. As a result of the
analytical testing, the SCS could be better chracterized:
· At each of the 566 SCS, contamination with petroleum products was
detected. While the extent of the oil contamination was typically small (i.e.
less than 0.5 ha at 463 SCS) the extent of contamination with other petroleum
products was estimated to be greater than 2 ha in 57 SCS. Based on the limited
sampling and testing programme, the oil contamination appeared to be confined
to the near surface at 176 SCS, to be restricted to the upper 1 metre at 212
lSCS, and to be deeper than 1 metre at 143 SCS.
· Bacteria contamination was found to be present in 135 of the 137 SCS.
The facilities that were concerned included piggeries, cow sheds, toilets and
graveyards. The total area of contamination at the different SCS was typically
less than 1 000 square metres.
· Chemical contamination was detected at 50 of the 56 SCS; typically, the
contaminated area had an area of 100 to 300 square metres.
· Rocket propellant was detected at all 20 suspected locations, with a
total estimated area of contamination of 4.15 ha.
· Mechanical disturbance, landscape disturbance and damaged forest was
confirmed at all of the respective SCS, with total areas of impact being 11,140
ha, 7,140 ha and 3,293 ha, respectively.
· Of the 9 SCS where radioactivity was suspected, only background levels
were detected.
The 12 locations where explosives are suspected, these have not yet been
investigated.
In summary, most of the sites left behind by the former Soviet troops were
found to be environmentally degraded. The prime contaminants turned out to
mineral oil products and rocket fuel compounds. However, some of the sites
registered were found to have only little contamination potential, such as for
example border guard posts and schools. A correlation between past site use and
typical contaminants has not been established.
It is also worth to point out, that Lithuania is concerned about loss of
nuclear powered ships and submarines of the former Soviet Navy which have
resulted in radioactive contamination within the Baltic sea.
Specific Contaminant Profile of the Siauliai Airfield
The contamination of principal concern at the 1,213 ha airfield is due to oil
products:
· 325 ha contaminated area (25 ha at an oil terminal);
· Maxium concnetration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH): 47 g/kg at
1.5 m below ground;
· TPH detected up to 15 m below ground;
· Volume of TPH contaminated soil: 2.5 million m³;
· 19 to 30 cm of kerosene floating product on the groundwater table (in
total: approx. 20 000 tonnes of product);
· TPH in surface water up to 25.5 mg/l.
In the area of galvanic operations, metals, in particular chromium (Cr), copper
(Cu), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), and aluminium (Al) are of
concern.
Radioactive sources were found in the area of an repair shop in close proximity
to the airfield. The radionuclide contaminated area covers 190 m². The
following radioactive elemtes were detected:
· Radium-226 (Ra-226): 60,180 Bq/kg;
· Plutonium-239 (Pu-239);
· Lead-214 (Pb-214);
· Bismut -214 (Bi-214);
· Tellurium-208 (Tl-208); and
· Caesium-137 (Cs-137).
In total, 30 ha were covered with wastes. Wastes disposed at the sites included
domestic wastes, construction wastes, scrap metal and chemical wastes. The
latter covered an area of 0.5 ha.
Many areas around the airfeld were contaminated with burning residues. Of
particular concern was benz[a]pyrene.
In addition to contamination, environmental impacts refered to mechanically
damaged areas.
After the troop withdrawal, all military sites in Lithuania were registered and
classified according to their former site use. As many of the countries of the
former Soviet Union, Lithuania has focused to date mainly on developing an
inventory of all military sites and cost estimates concerning environmental
damage and remediation. This information was to be used in the negotiations
with the Russian government over liability issues for these sites.
In 1994, a programme for the identification and preliminary assessment of
potential contamination at military sites wastherefore initiated. This
programme was completed in 1995. As presented above, at 275 military sites 2
743 SCS were identified and subjected to a limited sampling programme (see
Section 12.-5.0). Subsequently, further sampling and testing was undertaken at
a limited number of SCS (see Section 12.-7.2 and 12.-7.3). U.S. environmental
experts and military personnel have visited military sites in Lithuania and
conducted preliminary tests under the auspices of the "Milto-Mil-Program".
Representatives of the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Europe, members of
Canada´s and Norway´s Ministry of Defence and Geological Surveys,
MITRE Corp. (American Center for Environment, Resources and Space), NOTRA
Environmental Services, Inc., Ottawa, Canada, and IABG, Ottobrunn, Germany
offered assistance for testing.
The first step included the registration and preliminary assessment of all
former military sites. Questionnaires were developed for obtaining the
following information:
· presence of chemical or wastes (volumes and toxicity)
· evidence of contamination or environmental impact
· local environmental characteristics and pathways to sensitive
receptors.
On the basis of historical maps and the results of the site inspections, SCS
were identified; a limited number of surface soil samples were taken and
analysed in order to validate the SCS (Section 12.-5.0).
There are no manuals, guidelines or any formalized procedures investigating and
assessing contaminated sites.
All sampling was performed on an individual basis, targeting specific SCS. The
analyses mainly focused on a limited range of selected contaminants; however,
in some cases full suite screening was performed to assess potential presence
of other compounds.
The main difference between the first investigation and the detailed
investigation is that the latter focusses on the SCS and suspected contaminants
identified in the first investigations.
A simple risk assessment method described in the following Sub-Section was used
to rank sites according to their risk and the need to take action.
The method used for identifying " high risk" sites for further investigations
was to sum up the number of areas of identified contamination (for each of the
individual types of contamination listed in Section 12.-5.0) at each site, and
evaluate this with regard to its potential impact on each of the following
media:
· human health
· groundwater
· surface water
· soil
· flora
· fauna
· landscape.
A scoring system was developed and applied for each site. On the basis of this
scoring system, the 20 sites with the highest scores were then selected for
detailed investigation.
Following this more detailed investigation, 10 sites were selected for clean-up
based on the following criteria:
· presence of shallow groundwater
· location in or near a surface water protection zone
· location in or near a nature conservation zone
· location near a recreational area
· location near a residential area.
Lithuania currently uses the former Soviet standards (GOST) for assessing
levels of contaminants in soil and groundwater. New guidelines are being
developed for soil which will be based on the Dutch approach and take future
land use and local environmental sensitivity into account. However, up to now,
no clean-up activities have progressed in Lithuania to the point that concrete
clean-up goals are relevant.
To date, clean-up activities are ongoing at two military sites in Lithuania
only. In both cases, pumping and removal of free phase oil from the surface of
the groundwater is the technology used.
Following the preliminary assessment, 20 sites were selected for further
investigation and 10 sites were selected for clean-up. The prioritization of
sites for investigation and clean-up occurred on the basis of a basic risk
assessment procedure as described in Section 12.-7.3.
There are no official health and safety guidelines or manuals for investigating
contaminated sites in Lithuania.
As previously mentioned, the main focus of the work completed in Lithuania has
been to develop cost estimates for the remediation of environmental damage
caused by the Soviet troops in order to use these data in negotiation with the
Russian government. The following cost estimates were used to calculate the
total cost estimate:
· estimates of volumes of contamination, based on visual inspection and
limited sampling; and
· use of labour cost estimates for clean-up activities (based on local
labour rates according to the experience of the consultanting company Kruger
Consult). These unit rates are presented in Appendix 12-1.
The total cost estimate for clean-up was developed on a site by site basis and
amounts to a total sum of 733 million US dollars for all sites.
There are no research and development activities ongoing in Lithuania regarding
the investigation and clean-up of military sites. Main reason is the lack of
funding.
Kazakevicius, A., and Kutanovas, A.: Country Report for Lithuania presented at
Defense Environmental Conference 95 in Garmisch, Germany. 7 - 13 May 1995
Kruger Consult: Inventory of Damage and Cost Estimate of Remediation of Former
Military Sites in Lithuania, Draft Final Report. 1995
Zabulis, R.: Personal communication. Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Lithuania. 1995
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