On may 29, in the Russian city of Norilsk on the territory of TPP-3 "Norilsk Nickel", a tank with diesel fuel was depressurized, resulting in about 20 thousand tons of diesel fuel spilled out of it, which fell into the stream and the Daldykan and Ambarnaya rivers. The Ambarnaya and Daldykan rivers flow into lake Pyasino.
The head of Rosprirodnadzor Svetlana Radionova reported that about 6 thousand tons of fuel got into the ground, and 15 thousand tons into the water. The maximum permissible concentration of harmful substances in water bodies in the area of the incident was exceeded by tens of thousands of times! [1]
The total area of contamination, according to the Krasnoyarsk Prosecutor's office, was 180 thousand square meters. Ecologists of the Russian branch of Greenpeace reported that the damage caused only to water bodies on the Taimyr Peninsula, they estimate at 6 billion Russian rubles (more than 86 million dollars). It is emphasized that the damage to the soil and atmosphere has not yet been considered. The investigation of the incident took control of the Prosecutor General's office of Russia [1].
Environmentalists fear that the company "NorNickel", for which electricity was supplied from the CHP, may escape financial responsibility and not incur the costs of preventing environmental damage.
The company's management has already said that global warming is to blame for the fuel spill. They say that because of the melting of permafrost, where 30 years ago the builders of the tank drove the piles, they fell down, "and the rest, due to the design of the plate, could not take the remaining load, and they just broke" [2].
This is a real environmental disaster, but it became widely known only from social networks and two days later. Vladimir Putin scolded local officials. The head of the shop to which the tank belongs was detained.
However, it is alarming that the scale of the environmental disaster in the Arctic caused by the diesel fuel spill near Norilsk may be much larger than initially assumed. As Alexander USS, the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk territory, told local TV channels, oil products have already fallen into the unique Pyasino lake, from which the river of the same name flows into the Kara sea. Now it is important to prevent pollution of the Pyasina river and the Kara sea itself. But even if this does not happen, the ecology of the region has already suffered huge and, according to experts, irreparable damage [2].
What has been done to solve the problem?
Now at the scene of the accident, they are trying to localize oil product spots to prevent them from entering other reservoirs. Rosprirodnadzor assured that there will be no burning of fuel. And the first Vice-President of Norilsk Nickel, Sergey Dyachenko, said that the company expects to clear water bodies from oil spills in two weeks. However, according to him, the deadline will be met under favorable weather conditions. He also said that the company will take out the contaminated soil to temporary sites, and then deal with its reclamation [3].
Who is held responsible?
Were initiated several criminal cases of damage to land, pollution of waters, infringement of rules of protection of the environment by manufacture of works. Vyacheslav Starostin, the head of the boiler-turbine shop at CHPP-3, was arrested at least until July 31 on charges of late informing about the situation.
"On behalf of the President of Russia, the investigation of the circumstances of the oil spill in Norilsk is under special control of the Prosecutor General's office — in order to establish the causes of this emergency. Large-scale inspections with the involvement of specialists have been organized. According to their results, criminal cases have been initiated," said Andrey Ivanov, an official representative of the Prosecutor General's office of the Russian Federation.
I will tell you about possible solutions to this problem and actions to prevent it in my next report.
Sources:
1. https://news.tut.by/world/687438.html
2.https://www.mk.ru/economics/2020/06/09/ekolog-rasskazal-o-sereznykh-posledstviya-chp-v-norilske-dlya-arktiki.html
3. https://news.tut.by/world/687438.html