Report - UNDP Russia

7.7. Impact of the fuel & energyindustry on the environment:concluding remarksIn the sections above, we have discussedmain environmental impacts of the energy sector(mainly the fuel industry, but to a lesser extent,electric power generating and power engineering).There has not been room for discussion of otherdangerous environmental impacts from uraniumore mining and enrichment [OECD ..., 1999;Proceedings ..., 2003] 15 , production of fuel elementsfor nuclear power plants, and operation of NPPsthemselves (see, in particular, [Yablokov, 1997] forenvironmental concerns about nuclear power) 16 .We have also had to omit analysis of theenvironmental implications of oil & gas productionon the continental shelf, construction andoperation of oil & gas pipelines on the sea-bed, (see[Patin, 2001; Aibulatov, 2005]) 17 , environmentalproblems related to renewable geo-energy, etc.The 2009 Sayano–Shushenskaya hydroelectricaccident has also raised new concerns about safetyin the hydro-electricity industry. Environmentalconcerns related to this sub-sector havetraditionally included flooding of land to createartificial reservoirs, coastal flooding, shallow waterpropagation with sharp deterioration of waterquality, abrasion, local climate change, etc.), ButSayano-Shushenskaya raises serious concernsabout equipment dangers, which seem to havebeen underestimated. These problemsundoubtedly require large-scale monograph study,similar to electricity sector research in themid–1990s [Lyalikov et al, 1995] 18 .Every country in the world will continue toneed considerable amounts of energy, includingfossil fuels and their derivatives, for the foreseeablefuture. The question is how much will be needed,taking account of environmental factors, energysubstitution, import potential and, especially,pricing (not only for energy, but for everythingproduced or used by energy-consumingindustries). Progress of science and technologylowers energy intensity in all sectors, but to varyingdegrees and limits. Negative impact of extractiveenterprises on the environment is inevitable andno technologies can reduce it beyond an objectivelimit. More difficult mining and extractionconditions tend to raise this limit, and that entails aprinciple of diminishing returns in environmentalimpact reduction: increasingly difficult productionconditions in Russia, as the most accessibleresources are depleted, will makes it increasinglydifficult to minimize environmental impacts astime goes on.In manufacturing industries that processmaterials, which have already been removedfrom natural systems, there is at least atheoretical possibility of reducing environmentalimpact to zero, though with two significantreservations: firstly, such possibility only concernsthe production process and not what thenhappen to the manufactured product; secondly,heat pollution, which obviously has some nonzerolow limit, is not taken into consideration.With these two limitations, technologicalprogress should steadily reduce negative impactof the manufacturing sector on the environment.The function of the extractive industries(not only mining, but also forestry, agriculture,fisheries, hunting, etc.) is extraction of naturalsubstances from the environment and, whateverthe extraction method, there will be someinsuperable limit to reduction of negative impactfrom this process, regardless of any technologicaladvances. This is a principle difference between theraw material sector and manufacturing industries.15E.g. see: OECD Environmental Activities in Uranium Mining Milling. A Joint Report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency. 1999. 230 p.; Proceedings of International Conference Uranium Geochemistry 2003: Uranium Deposits – NaturalAnalogs – Environment. Wien, 2003. 380 p.16The environmentalists’ claims to the nuclear power segment are found in the following book: A.V.Yablokov, Nuclear Mythology:Environmentalist’s View of Atomic Energy, M, Nauka, 1997, 272 p.17See: S.A.Patin, Oil and the Continental Shelf Environment, M, VNIRO, 2001, 247 p.; N.A.Aybulatov, Russia’s Activities in the Coastal Area andEnvironmental Issues, M., 2005, 364 p.18Such an investigation was done in mid 1990-s only for a single sector of the Fuel and Energy Complex – electric power industry. See:G.N.Lyalik, S.G.Kostina, L.N.Shapiro, E.I.Pustovoyt, Electric Power Industry and the Nature: Environmental Issues of Electric Power Industry,M, Energoatomizdat, 1995, 352 p.130 National Human Development Report in the Russian Federation 2009