VietNamNet Bridge – It will take Khanh Hoa province at least 10 years to treat the “mountain” of one ton of nix particles – the waste from the Hyundai – Vinashin (HVS) shipyard.

How to treat the nix particles generated during the ship repairing process has caused a headache to the Khanh Hoa provincial authorities.

The local authorities were once convinced that the nix particles, or copper slag, would be wholly treated once the Ninh Thuy nix particle treatment factory with the estimated huge investment capital of VND1.5 trillion dong becomes operational.

However, the project, initially planned to be located in Ninh Hoa town, has had the license revoked after a long time at the “pending” status.

Most recently, the Van Phong Economic Zone has granted the investment registration certificate to the Thach Anh Van Phong JSC to run a factory making unburned materials using nix particles. It is expected that the factory would consumer 75,000 tons of nix particles a year.

However, it’s still unclear about the feasibility of the project which brings the high hope on completely settling the waste nix particles.

The project gone up in puff of smoke

Mai Van Thang, Deputy Director of the Khanh Hoa provincial Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, said local authorities, ministries and branches all have affirmed that it is the shipbuilder HVS which has to take responsibility for treating the nix particles.

Meanwhile, HVS said it relied totally on the Ninh Thuy nix particle treatment project initiated by the Hanoi Metallurgy and Minerals Company in Hanoi, which registered the investment in 2009.

The project was initially planned to become operational in May 2011, from which 330,000 tons of nix particles would be treated a year, which means that the whole volume of one million tons of particles discharged by HVS would be completely treated after three years.

However, the project remains immovable since the day it received the investment license. What the investor has done is the site clearance. Since the limited financial capability, the execution of the factory has been delayed for indefinite time.

This has forced the Van Phong economic zone board of management to release the decision to cancel the project, and request the investor to liquidate the project and pay debts to sub-contractors within six months to one year.

Meanwhile, Tran Van Vinh, a senior executive of HVS, said since HVS is seriously lacking capital, it has been meeting difficulties in treating nix particles. The company has isolated the area for containing nix particles from surrounding areas and residential quarters, which HVS believes would not cause the environment pollution.

This seems to be a temporary solution for now, while HVS is still awaiting other investors who want to build up a factory here to treat nix particles.

Nix particle-used technology feasible?

Hoang Dinh Phi, Deputy Head of the Van Phong Economic Zone, has informed that the Van Phong Economic Zone Board of Management in June 2012 allowed Thach Anh Van Phong to build an unburned material factory using nix particles.

The factory to be built would have the investment capital of VND200 billion and capacity of 70,000 cubic meters, or 75,000 tons of nix particles a year. This means that if the factory runs effectively as previously planned, it would need 10 year to finish the mountain of nix particles so far.

However, some experts have doubts about the feasibility of the solution, saying that there has been no perfect solution which can treat nix particles to the every root, except the solution of dumping the particles.

Lao Dong