Over a thousand employees of the Baikal...
the employees" families, about a half of all residents were currently dependent on the mill.A public campaign to close or convert the mill, built on the shores of the world"s largest freshwater lake in 1966, became one of the symbols of Glasnost, the "openness" policy proclaimed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in late 1980s.
It involved the nation"s leading statesmen and literary figures and forced the Soviet government to promise a halt to pulp production by 1993.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 delayed the decision, and it was only in October 2008 that the plant switched over to a closed water cycle, preventing the discharge of waste into the lake, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In late December, the Baikal mill started testing its equipment, and produced the first test batch of unbleached pulp last week.
MOSCOW, January 28 (RIA Novosti)
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