The industrial disaster and eco-friendly has been called “unprecedented.” Friday, may 29, one of the tanks of fuel of a thermal power plant collapsed near the arctic city of Norilsk in Siberia, releasing a 21,000 tonnes of hydrocarbon in nature.
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Friday, 5 June, a week to the day after the tragedy, the Russian authorities have said they have finally stopped the progression of the hydrocarbons.
Return on one of the worst environmental disasters in Siberia.
“An accident unprecedented in its scope”
on may 29, The collapse of a tank of diesel thermal power plant of Norilsk, belonging to the mining giant Norilsk Nickel will cause a leak of 15,000 tons of oil into the water courses nearby and 6000 tons on the surrounding terrain.
“It is an accident that is unprecedented in its magnitude,” commented Friday, June 5 Sevtalna Radionova, who runs Rosprirodnadzor, the constable of the Russian environment. The accident is so severe that the Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday 3 June a state of emergency.
The website of Norilsk Nickel in Norilsk IRINA YARINSKAYA / AFP
“there has never been a leak like that in the Arctic before, said the spokesman of the emergency service Russian navy, who specializes in these accidents. It is necessary to work very quickly because the fuel is trying to dissolve in the water.” For Greenpeace Russia, this accident is “the first of this scale in the Arctic.” The Russian Agency for fisheries, for its part, estimated that it would take decades for the ecosystem to recover.
pollution is even visible from space. On the images of the european space agency (ESA), which date from the 1st June, we can see several branches of the river, tinted red on a length of over two kilometers.
The images of the european space agency (ESA) show the waters of the river dyed red. ESA / ESA via REUTERS The progress of the tide of fuel “ to be stopped”
The progression of the pollution has been halted, thanks to the deployment of a dam of floating containment. Rescue teams are mobilized to attempt to limit the damage, in a context complicated by the difficulties of access, the low depth of the river thus preventing the operations in the boat, and the ground swampy in the spring.
The emergency services have pumped the oil and have them stored on site in containers until the winter, when the frost made the ground more manageable. So far, 200 tons were able to be taken out of the water.
in Front of the gravity of the situation, the United States offered their help on Saturday 6 June. “Despite our disagreements, the United States is ready to help Russia to stop this environmental disaster and to bring our technical expertise,” said secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a tweet.
