Dzerzhinsk, Russia

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with three work settlements and eleven rural localities, incorporated as the city of oblast significance of Dzerzhinsk—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Dzerzhinsk is incorporated as Dzerzhinsk Urban Okrug.

Chemical weapons and other production

Modern-day Dzerzhinsk is a large center of the Russian chemicals production industry. In the past, the city was also among Russias principal production sites for chemical weapons. Owing to its strategic significance, this city was, until recently, officially closed to foreign visitors.

Manufacture of various chemical weapons started in 1941, particularly concentrating on the production of lewisite - the poisonous effects of which are owed to its arsenic trioxide content — and yperite (mustard gas). The factory producing these substances was called the Kaprolactam (or Caprolaktam) Organic Glass Factory, and in addition to its arsenic-based weapons, also produced prussic acid and phosgene.

Chemical weapons production at Dzerzhinsk ceased in 1965. Some materials were transferred to storage units, while large amounts of waste material — frequently containing high concentrations of arsenic - were buried in dumps on the site of the factory. Full dismantling of the yperite facility was commenced in 1994. As of 1998, the lewisite production unit was still not completely disassembled.

As of 2008, Dzerzhinsk had 38 large industrial enterprises, which export their goods worldwide. About one thousand varieties of chemical products are produced in Dzerzhinsk. The largest factories, which presently ( = as of 2012? ) exist or existed in the past, include:

• Sverdlov Plant, FSE (Federal State Enterprise) manufactures munitions, battle and industrial explosives, and chemicals for industrial purposes (phenol-formaldehyde resin, epoxy resin, carbamide-furane resin, plasticizers, hardeners of various modifications, nitrobenzene, sulphanole, acetic anhydride, various cleaners and detergents, as well as other products). The plant is included in the presidential list of the countrys strategic enterprises. This is Dzerzhinsks largest factory.
• Korund, JSC (opened in 1915, the first factory in Russia to produce cyanide, still operational). This plant produces corundum for lasers and other applications. It is the oldest enterprise in Dzerzhinsk. In 2004, the plant was temporarily closed due to bankruptcy.
• Dzerzhinskhimmash, JSC (opened in 1941, currently (2013) makes distillation and ?olumn equipment, evaporators, heat exchangers).
• Sintez, JSC. Produces acetone, carbonyl iron, diethanolamine, isopropanol, methylamine, phenol, etc.
• Orgsteklo, JSC (previously manufactured specialist glass for the aeronautics market, currently (in 2012?) specializes in production of acrylic co-polymers and organic glasses).
• Avangard-KNAUF, JSC
• Liebherr, JSC
• Plastik, JSC
• Aviabor, JSC
• SIBUR-Neftekhim, JSC
• Oka, Yava, Orgsitilen, Zarya (no longer functioning).

Pollution

According to the September 12, 2007, study by the Blacksmith Institute (United States), Dzerzhinsk is one of the worst-polluted cities of the world and has a life expectancy of 42 years for men and 47 for women, with the 2003 death rate exceeding its birth rate by 260%. Environmental action groups such as Greenpeace attribute such low life expectancy to high levels of persistent organic chemicals, particularly dioxins. The Blacksmith Institute also names sarin, lewisite, sulfur mustard, hydrogen cyanide, phosgene, lead, and organic chemicals among the worst pollutants. Parts of Dzerzhinsks water are contaminated with dioxins and phenol at levels that are reportedly seventeen million times the safe limit.

Dzerzhinsks environmental agency estimates that almost 300,000 tons of chemical waste were dumped in the city between 1930 and 1998. The Ecology Committee of the Russian State Duma also considers Dzerzhinsk among the top ten cities with disastrous ecological conditions.

Dzerzhinsks City Administration, however, asserts that the Blacksmith Institute report is false, stating, for example, that since sarin had never been produced in the city, it cannot be one of the major pollutants. Also, according to the citys health department, the average life expectancy in the city was 64 years in 2006. Askhat Kayumkov, the head of the Dront public ecological organization, which was quoted as a source by the Blacksmith Institute, states that his organization never provided the Blacksmith Institute with data of any kind. Furthermore, he does not believe that Dzerzhinsk is one of the most polluted cities in Russia, much less in the whole world.

Additionally, a 2000 audit report by the Audiekometal organization, based in Moscow, asserted that, for the previous ten years, Dzerzhinsk had not made it to the top ten most polluted cities of the Russian Federation, and that the level of pollution in the city was “moderate”.

In the end, however, despite the ecological situation in the city being at its best in the previous 80 years (mostly due to bankruptcies and closures of the polluting factories), several locations in the city pose a tangible ecological risk. These sites include the landfill, toxic waste burial grounds, and a so-called “white sea”, composed of disposed chemical wastes. These sites are kept under constant ecological monitoring.

Notable people

International relations

Dzerzhinsk is twinned with:

• Maloyaroslavets
• Ivanovo
• Gus-Khrustalny
• Ozyory
• Soligalich
• Gubkin
• Belomorsk