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Military Waste Storage Site Astana Afghanistan

Military Waste Storage Site Astana Afghanistan. By Will Meddings and Annie Goldie. Site History. Located in Astana (Afghanistan) in a small village in the Panjshir Valley. Site used by the Russian army as a helicopter base in the 1980’s.

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Military Waste Storage Site Astana Afghanistan

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  1. Military Waste Storage SiteAstanaAfghanistan By Will Meddings and Annie Goldie

  2. Site History • Located in Astana (Afghanistan) in a small village in the Panjshir Valley. • Site used by the Russian army as a helicopter base in the 1980’s. • During the period of the Taliban governence in the 1990’s, the Afghan Northern Alliance stockpiled military equipment throughout the Panjshir Valley. • Equipment was separated into stockpiles at 4 main areas on site.

  3. Site Description • 6 hectare of land. • Site until recently used for grazing land for goats and cattle. • Crops were also cultivated in some areas. • Part of the site was used to grow vegetables but was stopped in the last decade due to odours emanating from nearby stored materials.

  4. Site 1 • Missile and warhead storage area. • Excavated trench (8mx5m) used to store bodies of 3 missiles and 32 warhead casings. • Many casings were unsealed exposing approximately 150kg of warheads. Scud missile warhead casings

  5. Site 2 • Rocket fuel storage area. • Two separate stockpiles of 500 litre containers. • Stockpile 1 had 22 stored at ground level. • Stockpile 2 had 85 stored in a shallow trench. • No ground cover protection provided (ie impermeable surfacing or bunds). • Faint, pungent, ammonia like odour suggested degradation of hydrazine compounds. SCUD missile fuel containers stored below ground level in a shallow trench.

  6. Site 3 • Warhead cover storage area. • 2 conical warhead covers (0.4mx0.5m weighing 10kg). • Originally contained the missile fuse. • At the time of assessment no fuse was present in either warhead. The warhead covers

  7. Site 4 • Missile casing and nitric acid storage area. • Here were stockpiled 46 steel 200 litre containers. • Filled with fuming nitric acid. • Analysis of soil samples indicated pH levels < 3.0 suggesting that leaching or spills had occurred. Nitric acid containers

  8. Chemicals, Toxicology and Radioactivity • Primary chemicals and materials of concern were: • Hydrazine • Nitric Acid • Other potentially hazardous contaminants may exist in this area such as: • Amines • Heavy metals/metalloid constituents • Fuels and lubricants

  9. Hydrazine • Physical Properties • UDMH – colourless, fuming and hygroscopic fluid at ordinary pressure and temperature. • Pungent, acrid odour. • Turns yellow upon exposure to air. • Rapidly decomposes when heated or exposed to ultraviolet radiation. • Toxic for plants in both air and water and highly flammable.

  10. Nitric Acid • Physical properties • Colourless, highly corrosive to metals, poisionous liquid. • Gives off red or yellow fumes in moist air. • Nitric Acid for commercial use is typically 52% - 68% nitric acid in water. • A strong acid, which reacts violently with bases forming flammable/explosive gas • Solutions containing over 86% are commonly called fuming nitric acid. • Soluble in water and harmful to aquatic organisms. • Not expected to biodegrade or bioconcentrate.

  11. Short Term Measures • Remove hazardous materials from site to secure compound and perform deeper soil tests. • Remove radioactive substances and explosives from site to secure compound. • Restrict crop growth and animal grazing until all hazardous materials are removed from site.

  12. Possible Solutions • Removal of contaminants - excavation, soil washing etc… • Treatment to render harmless - pump & treat • Immobilisation/Containment - capping, subsurface barriers, solidification

  13. Methods For Reducing Hydrazine • Heat to over 200 Degrees Celsius. • Expose to ultraviolet radiation. • N2H4 + H2O → [N2H5]+ + OH−

  14. Methods For Reducing Nitric Acid • Non-treatment processes • Treatment processes - such as ion exchange, reverse osmosis, biological denitrification and chemical reduction remove portions of the pollutant. • Bio-chemical Denitrification: Ethanol can be used to oxidise the nitrate ion to its elemental state of N2. • 6H+ + 6NO3- + 5CH3OH -> 3N2 + 5CO2 + 13H2O

  15. Conclusion • Since the site has been treated, this has allowed for crops to be grown once again and animals to graze safely. • If the site had not been treated, the long term effects to the environment and local people could have been a lot worse maybe resulting in large fines and court cases.

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