Thousands of tons of diesel oil threaten nature in the Arctic Ocean. Russian specialists have been working for days to prevent the worst. Climate change and the slow handling of security measures should be the reason for the disaster.
Norilsk (dpa) - Russia has sent additional specialists to the Arctic Ocean to help clean up after the spill of huge amounts of fuel.
In addition, special trucks are now in use, which are better suited for work in the rough landscape, the civil defense of the region announced on Sunday. The first cleaning of the polluted natural areas in the far north should take about two weeks. At the end of May, around 21,000 tons of diesel had escaped from a leak in a power plant near the industrial city of Norilsk. Experts believe that nature will take years to recover.
The emergency personnel removed around 330 tons of diesel by the weekend. 14,000 square meters of the contaminated soil are to be processed. There is also progress in cleaning up the badly affected Ambarnaya River and its tributaries. For this purpose, further samples are now to be taken from the soil and the waters in order to get a more accurate estimate of the damage, it said. However, strong winds make cleaning work difficult because the fuel could continue to be driven.
So far, however, the spread of the toxins has been prevented by special oil barriers, said head of environmental supervision, Svetlana Radionowa of the Tass agency. The barriers are effective to pinpoint the substance.
The United States offered further help with the cleaning work. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter that his country was ready with technical expertise. Russia thanks, it said from the civil defense. But you currently have sufficient funds and have everything under control.
The power plant belongs to the company Nornickel (Norilsk Nickel), one of the world's largest nickel producers. According to initial investigations, a tank was damaged there because the foundations' supports sagged into the ground. In the end, cracks appeared in the tank. The background is the above-average temperatures in Siberia, which has been causing the permafrost soil to thaw more deeply for years, it said.
"In times of global climate change, this problem is characteristic of the Arctic Zone," said the environmental organization Greenpeace. The buildings in the region in Siberia would increasingly lose stability. That is why regular checks of the power plants and more precise safety checks are necessary.
Radionowa stressed that companies need better control over their power plants. "I think the Norilsk accident will make everyone think," she said. They would have to meet standards and environmental requirements more precisely.
According to a report by the Russian economic paper "Vedomosti", the leak could have been prevented. For example, years ago there were negotiations about the installation of a special warning system that is supposed to monitor the occurrence of cracks. However, the group did not confirm this.
The power plant manager has since been arrested and several investigations have been initiated. During a meeting with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the Nornickel group management emphasized that it wanted to cover all costs.
Communication from Greenpeace
Vedomosti report
Tweet from Pompeo