by CKR
I had just about decided not to do Tuesday blogging this week, and PHK e-mailed to ask if I’d seen the NYT article on Sillamäe. The Times didn’t bother to list the article on its International page, but a quick search found it.
As usual, the Times gets several things wrong. It’s Sillamäe, not Sillamae. The difference matters in Estonian. I don’t pronounce that last diphthong well, but I don’t say Sillamay, the way too many Americans do. And uranium was never enriched there. Never. Processed from ore and concentrate into either yellowcake or metal, but not enriched. I’ve been through the plant. Simply not possible unless the Soviets had some really wonderful secrets that they took with them.
The town was never called Uranium Lake, either. That was the tailings pond from the processing plant, a kilometer long and half a kilometer wide, the shaky dam not fifty meters from the sea. The reason the name no longer applies is that the tailings pond is being remediated. It’s been an enormous project, and the Estonian government and its project manager, Ökosil, have done an outstanding job. [Full disclosure: I’ve worked with Ökosil and have friends there.]
Sillamäe is a charming town with classic Stalinist architecture. Some of the older buildings have deteriorated, but I would love to see the center city fully restored. It was a secret city, because of the uranium plant, and most of its residents are still ethnic Russians. I’ve stayed at the Krunk guesthouse and enjoyed the warm hospitality, even before it was renovated. The last time I was there, in summer 2004, renovations were under way in other parts of town too.
Sillamäe is in the northeast part of Estonia, Ida-Virumaa County, which has a large population of ethnic Russians and high unemployment. When you hear complaints from Russia about Russians in Estonia, they’re mostly talking about Ida-Virumaa County. That’s why the Estonian government is encouraging the development of Sillamäe as an industrial center and a port, to provide work for the people who live there.
The old uranium plant now processes rare earth metals for use in optics and electronics. The last I looked, it was the third-largest exporter of rare earths to the US. There’s a new, environmentally-sound factory for recovery of lead from car batteries in Sillamäe too.
Well, what can I say. I love the place, and I love the people I’ve worked with there. I am so proud of what my associates have done there, and I’m proud of the people I’ve met there. I wish Tiit Vähi well in developing Sillamäe as a port.
Links
Port of Sillamäe
City of Sillamäe (English, Estonian, Photos) Oh, those stairs and the walk to the sea! There's a lot more in the Estonian pages than in the English.
Ökosil (History and Remediation) Click around on the right-hand lists for lots of photos. What they call the depository (jäätmehoidla) is what I call the tailings pond.
Photos
Walking to the beach (CKR)
Sillamäe town from the roof of the rare-earth processing building (CKR)
Aerial view of tailings pond (Ökosil)
Applying cover material to the tailings pond (Ökosil)
Palace of Culture and park (CKR)
Baltic Sea from base of tailings dam (CKR)