VZCZCXRO3239
RR RUEHLMC RUEHVK
DE RUEHUM #0696 3510818
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170818Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1737
INFO RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3085
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0233
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 1565
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5895
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 1660
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2780
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0403
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 0197
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 2015
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC 0029
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS ULAANBAATAR 000696 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM, EAP/EX, AND EB/IFD/OMA 
MANILA AND LONDON PASSS TO ADB, EBRD USEDS 
BANGKOK FOR USAID RDMA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ECON ENRG SENV EFIN SOCI PGOV MG
SUBJECT: Asbestos-Coated Heating Pipes, Construction Materials A 
Clear And Present Danger to Ulaanbaatar's Residents? 
 
¶1. Asbestos and cement covered pipes that make up Ulaanbaatar's aged 
and decaying centralized heating system may constitute a significant 
unidentified  health risk.  Of the 286 kilometers of heating pipes 
that snake through the city, estimates indicate 91% are coated with 
asbestos-cement insulation.  Some 83.2 kilometers of piping are 
above ground, much of it near residences or workplaces, where it is 
exposed to the harsh and destructive Mongolian climate and 
susceptible to more rapid decay. 
 
Asbestos Insulation Also Used in Building Construction 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
¶2. Some NGO reps note that street children and the homeless, who 
often camp near underground heating pipes to escape the cold of 
winter, are particularly vulnerable to increased direct exposure to 
asbestos particles from exfoliating and crumbling sections of pipe. 
The public at large is also at risk due to exposure to 
asbestos-laden building materials and piping insulation.  There are 
currently no special disposal procedures for removal of 
asbestos-laden building materials and waste is simply deposited in 
the city's single open pit landfill, Ulaanchuluut, located near 
several ger communities in the city's northwest quadrant.  Replaced 
heating pipes are often resold as scrap metal with little effort 
given to sandblast away remnants of the asbestos coating. 
 
GOM Health Experts Down Play Asbestos Risk But... 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶3. While fully cognizant of the dangers presented by exposure to 
asbestos, many of the health experts post spoke with had never 
viewed the use of asbestos as insulation for heating pipes as a 
threat to public health.  Some even argued that concentrations of 
asbestos fiber dust from crumbling pipe sealants are not high enough 
to represent a serious danger.  Ditto for construction materials use 
and disposal. They admit, however, it can take from 10 to 40 years 
or more for symptoms of asbestos-related conditions to manifest 
themselves and Mongolia's underdeveloped health care system lacks 
the capacity to diagnose these diseases properly.  Furthermore, 
local laboratories do not abide by internationally accepted testing 
standards, making determinations about the affects of asbestos 
exposure to the general population difficult to discern. Finally, 
given the prevalence of asbestos used in constructions, especially 
in structures build before 1990, it would be hard to determine the 
real source of any asbestos-related illness. 
 
... Banned Its Use And Are Slowing Replacing Pipes 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶4. The GOM has long been aware of the dangers of asbestos.  The use 
of asbestos cement sheets was commonplace for buildings constructed 
before the 1990s, when the country was under Soviet domination. 
Mongolian building codes now prohibit asbestos in new construction 
and heating pipes extensions for new developments are coated with 
polyurethane.  Damaged sections of pipe are replaced with 
polyurethane covered piping.  However, according the Ministry of 
Fuels and Energy, less than 10 kilometers of Ulaanbaatar's heating 
pipe system are asbestos free. 
 
¶5. Because the GOM's expressed desire to replace all exposed 
asbestos piping with polyurethane coated pipes has been stymied by 
the high cost, around US$1 million per kilometer, it has instead 
sought donor assistance but with middling results. The Asia 
Development Bank, GTZ, Germany's development assistance 
organization, and the Korean aid agency, KOIKA, have engaged in 
limited asbestos removal programs, but usually in connection with 
broader projects on heating deliverance systems or urban 
construction. 
 
Minton