Rössing Desalination Plant
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Rössing Uranium Limited SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR THE PROPOSED RÖSSING URANIUM DESALINATION PLANT NEAR SWAKOPMUND, NAMIBIA FINAL SEIA REPORT PROJECT REFERENCE NO: 110914 DATE: JANUARY 2015 PREPARED BY ON BEHALF OF Rössing Uranium Desalination Plant: Final SEIA Report PROJECT DETAILS PROJECT: Social and Environmental Impact Assessment for the Proposed Rössing Uranium Desalination Plant, near Swakopmund, Namibia AUTHORS: Andries van der Merwe (Aurecon) Patrick Killick (Aurecon) Simon Charter (SLR Namibia) Werner Petrick (SLR Namibia) SPECIALISTS: Birds –Mike and Ann Scott (African Conservation Services CC) Heritage – Dr John Kinahan (Quaternary Research Services) Marine ecology – Dr Andrea Pulfrich (Pisces Environmental Services (Pty) Ltd) Noise - Nicolette von Reiche (Airshed Planning Professionals) Socio-economic - Auriol Ashby (Ashby Associates CC) - Dr Jonthan Barnes (Design and Development Services CC)1 Visual – Stephen Stead (Visual Resource Management Africa) Wastewater discharge modelling – Christoph Soltau (WSP Group) Shoreline dynamics - Christoph Soltau (WSP Group) PROPONENT: Rio Tinto Rössing Uranium Limited REPORT STATUS: Final Environmental Impact Report REPORT NUMBER: 9408/110914 STATUS DATE: 27 January 2015 .......................................... .......................................... Patrick Killick Simon Charter Senior Practitioner: Aurecon Environment and Advisory Senior Practitioner: SLR Environmental Consulting .......................................... …………………………… Werner Petrick Andries van der Merwe Director: SLR Environmental Consulting Technical Director: Aurecon Environment and Advisory This report is to be referred to in bibliographies as: Aurecon and SLR. 2014. Social and Environmental Impact Assessment for the Proposed Rössing Uranium Desalination Plant, near Swakopmund, Namibia. Final SEIA Report, Report No. 9408/110914. Note: All significant changes to the SEIA affected between the draft and final versions of the report are denoted by the underlining of text, as used here. 1 Dr Jonathan Barnes sadly passed away during the course of the project. The project team would like to acknowledge his contribution and extend our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. Page II Rössing Uranium Desalination Plant: Final SEIA Report TABLE OF CONTENTS NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. I 1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................................. 1 2 LEGAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 The Constitution of the Republic of Namibia (Act 1 of 1990) ................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Environmental Management Act (Act 7 of 2007) ....................................................................................................................... 4 2.2.1 Content of SEIA Report ............................................................................................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Water Resources Management Act (Act 24 of 2004)................................................................................................................. 7 2.4 The National Heritage Act (Act 27 of 2004) ................................................................................................................................ 8 2.5 The Soil Conservation Act (Act 76 of 1969) ............................................................................................................................... 8 2.6 The National Policy on Coastal Management for Namibia (2013)............................................................................................ 8 2.7 The Marine Resources Act (2000) ............................................................................................................................................... 9 2.8 The Aquaculture Act (2002) ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.9 The Integrated Coastal Management Bill (2014)...................................................................................................................... 10 2.10 The National Policy on Human-Wildlife Conflict Management (2009) ................................................................................... 10 2.11 Proposed Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (2009).................................................................................................. 10 2.12 The Namibia Vision 2030 ........................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.13 COASTAL SEAS ......................................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.14 Water Quality Guidelines ........................................................................................................................................................... 12 2.15 Biodiversity Legislation and Policies ....................................................................................................................................... 15 2.15.1 Rio Tinto Environmental and Sustainability Policies ................................................................................................................................. 15 2.15.2 Rössing Uranium Limited Policies ............................................................................................................................................................. 16 2.16 Social Policies ............................................................................................................................................................................ 17 2.16.1 The MET Policy on HIV and AIDS ............................................................................................................................................................ 17 3 PROJECT DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................................................. 18 3.1 A background to desalination ................................................................................................................................................... 18 3.2 Project Need and Desirability ................................................................................................................................................... 22 3.3 Project Overview ........................................................................................................................................................................ 23 3.3.1 Pre-construction phase ............................................................................................................................................................................. 23 3.3.2 Construction phase ................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.3.3 Operations phase ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 28 3.3.4 Decommissioning phase ........................................................................................................................................................................... 28 3.4 Project location .......................................................................................................................................................................... 28 3.5 Project Components .................................................................................................................................................................. 30 3.5.1 Seawater intake system ............................................................................................................................................................................ 34 3.5.2 Seawater pre-treatment system ................................................................................................................................................................ 35 3.5.3 Desalination plant ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 3.5.4 Electrical supply system ............................................................................................................................................................................ 39 3.5.5 Product water system and pipeline ........................................................................................................................................................... 40 3.5.6 Effluent treatment and disposal system .................................................................................................................................................... 41 4 SCREENING OF PROJECT OPTIONS