Environmental stories out of Russia have been in the news lately. On or about May 29, a storage tank at a power plant near Norilsk sank because of melting permafrost, which weakened its supports. Some 21,000 tons or 150,000 barrels of diesel fuel contaminated the Ambarnaya river and marshy wilderness.
Today, in a statement, according to Bloomberg Quint, Nornickel said” “A pipeline owned by Norilsktransgaz was depressurized while pumping aviation fuel in the area of Tukhard settlement.”
Earlier on Sunday, Nornickel’s subsidiary Norilsktransgaz estimated the amount of leaked fuel at 20 tonnes. However, the Nornickel statement said: “According to the preliminary data, as a result of the depressurization, which lasted about 15 minutes, there was a spill of up to 44.5 tonnes of fuel.”
Tukhard settlement is situated some 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Nornickel’s Arctic port of Dudinka on the Enisey river. Nornickel is said to be conducting an internal investigation into the event, reports US News.
The Yenisey (Enisey) River is the fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course before draining into the Yenisey Gulf in the Kara Sea.
“Fuel pumping works have been suspended and all possible measures are being taken to speed up the collection of spilled fuel,” Nornickel said, reports Reuters.