Suurlähettiläs Jaakko Blomberg puhui Sillamäellä

Jätealtaan kattamisen toisen vaiheen päättymistä juhlistettiin Sillamäellä 8.12. 2004 tilaisuudessa, jossa Suomen suurlähettiläs Jaakko Blomberg piti puheen kaikkien pohjoismaisten rahoittajien puolesta. Englanninkielinen puhe ohessa kokonaisuudessaan.

Completion event of the second phase of the Sillamäe radioactive tailings pond remediation project

I have the honour to congratulate you all for completing the second phase of the Sillamäe radioactive tailings pond remediation project, and to say a few words on behalf of the Nordic donors.

The Sillamäe project is one example of the Nordic countries' engagement in Baltic environmental projects. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have together contributed 5 million euros to this project, in addition to the 2 million euros contributed by the 5 Nordic countries through the Nordic Environmental Development Fund, which is managed by NEFCO. The sum corresponds to 28 per cent of the total budget of the project.

Sillamäe has been a significant international project. It has also been a model example of those achievements which the countries around the Baltic Sea are capable of making by joint efforts.

The project has been supported by a strong political will of Estonia, the Nordic countries and the European Union. It has been underpinned by excellent management of the foreign grants by NEFCO. We have good grounds for being proud of this project.

We all know that the Baltic Sea is very vulnerable. In the past, the hazardous waste area in Sillamäe constituted one of the worst environmental threats around the Gulf of Finland. The tailings pond is radioactive, and it contains large amounts of nitrate, uranium, thorium and different heavy metals.

For many years, one of the worst problems was caused by continuous nitrogen discharges to the Gulf of Finland. Even one third of all nitrogen discharges from Estonia to the Gulf of Finland originated just from this tailings pond. Now, our project has already resulted in a visible local improvement of the water quality.

We are also pleased to note that the Silmet factory has ceased all its discharges to the tailing pond in August 2003.

As we have seen today, the work in Sillamäe will continue in many ways. The Silmet factory will go on enriching rare metals, and a new harbour is being built. We hope that this harbour will bring new jobs and economic growth to Sillamäe.

Yet in this context, I would like to express the wish that the delicate and fragile cover of the tailings pond be given particular attention in the harbour construction work. If at all included in any plans to use the finally covered tailings pond for anything else than walking around, it should be carefully considered, whether it will be advisable and safe.

I wish the best of success to the completion of the Sillamäe project and all project participants. We have reached the target in one of our joint projects. But our co-operation will continue in many different fields, for we are united by our common Baltic Sea.