Umicore Position Paper (August 2008)
Remediation of Viviez site and surrounding area (France)
Umicore’s Viviez plant celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2005. Originally created as a zinc smelter – until 1987 - it is today Umicore’s worldwide competence centre for zinc surface treatment for the Building Products business. It is a valued employer in this small community in the region of Aveyron, in the heart of France.
While Umicore continues to manufacture building materials, the vast majority of the plant is no longer operational. However, 150 years of continuous operations have also left the present generation with the legacy of historical soil and groundwater pollution.
Umicore’s Group Environment, Health and Safety objectives for the period 2006-2010 stipulate that “all industrial sites are to assess the nature, extent and related risk of the impact that their current and past activities are causing or have caused to soil and groundwater. For those sites where significant risks have been identified remedial actions should be initiated by the end of 2010”.
As part of this overall commitment to address all legacy issues, Umicore is embarking on a remediation programme for the contaminated areas in Viviez – especially involving cadmium - that is to be executed between 2009 and 2013 and is expected to cost € 35 million, representing Umicore’s largest single remediation programme as well as the largest initiated by a private company in France.
The remediation programme is aimed at significantly reducing the environmental impact of the site’s past industrial actvities, as well as erase its historic marks on the landscape.
Umicore in 2002 initiated a voluntary risk assessment of the entire facility as part of a full scale environmental impact study. The voluntary Detailed Risk Assessment Report (EDR),finalized in early 2005, found a strong contamination by arsenic, a substance present in coal prevalent in the region and vastly used in power stations –as well as uncovered the presence of cadmium and lead. The local authorities were immediately alerted to that effect. The conclusions of the study pointed to the presence of “unacceptable risks” for the three abovementioned metals.
A soil study executed by the public health department at the request of the regional Préfet – conducted in late 2007 – confirmed the strong presence of arsenic, cadmium and lead in the area. The Préfet announced in June 2008 the launch of a biomonitoring of the local population, the results of which are expected to be made public in the course of 2009.
Umicore has embarked on the rehabilitation project of its facilities in close consultation and cooperation with the French regional and local public authorities.
In 2007, Umicore already completed the voluntary remediation of the Laubarède site which was used in the past to store concentrates and waste. It will host the regional emergency centre. Approximately 120 000 m3 of contaminated soil were excavated and safely stored. The remediation of Laubarède is only a small portion of the overall programme.
In all, more than 1 million m3 of residues of lead, goethite currently stored at four locations – will be treated and subsequently stocked at a fully secured site (Montplaisir) and 1 million m3 of residues resulting from the former thermal treatment of zinc will be reshaped and covered up with vegetation (Dunet). All former storage locations will be completely remediated, preparing them for potential future industrial use by third parties, while the site will be remodelled to erase its historic marks on the landscape
During the works the entire site will also be equiped with a network to monitor the quality of both surface and underground water, as well as a system to survey and prevent the dispersion of dust. Moreover, the Montplaisir storage site will be encapsulated and covered up with vegetation.
The plan will ultimately allow for the reduction of the outflow of cadmium from the site to surface water downstream from the site – especially the Riou Mort river - bringing it in line with legal requirements by the period 2020-2025.