Russia: serious fuel pollution in the Arctic

Text by: RFI Follow

Almost 20,000 tonnes of fuel accidentally spilled into a river in Russia's Far North, prompting authorities to declare an "emergency" and raising concerns among environmentalists and residents.

Publicity

Satellite images published by the WWF environmental association show large red areas, caused by fuel, covering a local river, the Ambarnaïa. On social networks, several residents have posted videos showing parts of the polluted stream.

In a statement, the NGO welcomed on Tuesday that the pollution could have been contained by floating dams, set up by the authorities, before reaching a large lake north of the arctic city of Norilsk (eastern Siberia) .

The pollution was caused by the leak, reported last Friday, of a fuel tank from a thermal power plant located a few kilometers west of Norilsk. "  A diesel tank was damaged and leaked due to the sudden sagging of pillars that held for 30 years without any difficulty,  " said mining giant Nornickel, owner of the company operating the plant. .

The industrial city of Norilsk is entirely built on permafrost, threatened by the melting of the ice caused by climate change . But the authorities and environmentalists have not yet established the exact reasons for the accident, or a link with the evolution of the climate.

" Emergency situation  " decreed

Prosecutors in the Krasnoyarsk region said that a   natural " emergency " had been declared at the local level. An investigation was also opened for "  soil contamination  ". According to the Russian Investigation Committee, the pollution represents "  approximately 20,000 tonnes of oil spilled over nearly 350 square meters  ".

At a meeting on Tuesday, Sergei Lipin, the director of the NTEK company that operates the power plant, said that 500 cubic meters of petroleum products had been removed by a team of nearly 90 workers, still on the job.

The local unit of the Russian health agency Rospotrebnadzor said it had not detected pollution of the groundwater, according to a statement published on the site of the Krasnoyarsk region.

WWF nevertheless calls for monitoring downstream water quality to prevent toxic products from spreading to nature reserves.

(With agencies)

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