Russia detains three over Arctic fuel spill that will take 'years' to clean up

Russian investigators have detained three staff from a power plant over a massive fuel spill in the Arctic, as response teams warned a full clean-up would take years. Over 21,000 tonnes of fuel was spilled in May in the city of Norilsk after a fuel reservoir collapsed at a power plant operated by a subsidiary of metals giant Norilsk Nickel.

Russia declared a state of emergency last week after 21,000 tonnes of diesel leaked from a fuel reservoir that collapsed outside Norilsk AFP/File

The accident is the largest spill ever to hit the Arctic, say environmentalists.

Those working at the site have already seen the first effects on the local ecosystem, said Viktor Bronnikov, general director of Transneft Siberia oil and gas transport company involved in the clean-up.

The Investigative Committee looking into the accident said it had detained the director of the power station, Pavel Smirnov, and two engineers on suspicion of breaching environmental protection rules.

Cette photo prise et diffusée par le Service de sauvetage maritime de Russie le 3 juin 2020 montre un important déversement de diesel dans la rivière Ambarnaya, à l'extérieur de Norilsk. Handout / Marine Rescue Service / AFP

If convicted, they risk up to five years in prison.

"The company considers this measure to be unjustifiably harsh," Norilsk Nickel said in a statement to AFP, citing vice-president Nikolai Utkin.

All three "are cooperating with law enforcement authorities and now they would be much more useful at the scene of the clean-up operation".

Animals dying

At the scene in the Norilsk industrial district, the situation appeared to be stabilising, according to Bronnikov. But the clean-up team has seen animals and birds killed by the spill.

"Today I saw dead muskrats," Bronnikov told AFP, adding that workers had seen ducks killed by the oil.

"If a bird lands on the diesel fuel or a muskrat swims through it, it is condemned to death," he said.

He added, however, that he had not seen "a huge number" of animals dying.

A stray polar bear walks along a road near the Russian industrial city of Norilsk, hundreds of kilometres from its natural habitat Zapolyarnaya pravda newspaper/AFP

Workers in waterproofs were using booms to contain the reddish-brown diesel on the surface of a river and pump it into tanks on the bank.

"We will be removing diesel fuel from the Ambarnaya River for at least eight to 10 days," Bronnikov said.

"We will need years to completely clean up," he added.

The teams have set up tents on the river bank and are using helicopters to bring in equipment and survey the vast flat area of grass and sparse trees.

After this "mechanical" stage, other methods will have to be used to absorb the rest of the diesel or cause it to break down, Bronnikov said.

Clean-up efforts

Norilsk Nickel head Vladimir Potanin, a former deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin, said the company would pay for clean-up efforts estimated at $146 million after President Vladimir Putin backed a state of emergency in the Arctic city.

The Investigative Committee said the power plant's fuel tank had required major repairs from 2018 but the suspects "continued to use it in breach of safety rules".

Vladimir Potanin, head of Norilsk Nickel. REUTERS/Alexander Natruskin

"As a result, the accident occurred," the investigators' statement said.

Norilsk Nickel said that the fuel reservoir was built in 1985 and underwent repairs in 2017 and 2018, after which it went through a safety audit.

Regional officials have said that despite efforts to contain the fuel leak using booms on the river surface, it has now reached a freshwater lake that is a major source of water for the region.

20,000 tons of diesel oil leaked into a river within the Arctic circle in Norilsk, Russia.

Terrrible environmental damage inflicted on an already vulnerable Arctic environment.

It's time to #EndTheAgeOfOil.

Read more ➡️ https://t.co/vQJW7g7XIG pic.twitter.com/eE7eppjAAu

— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) June 5, 2020

The pollution could now flow into the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia, which Greenpeace Russia expert Vladimir Chuprov told AFP would be a "disaster".

But in a conference call on Wednesday, Norilsk Nickel's first vice president Sergei Dyachenko denied the spill had reached the lake, saying the company had not found contamination there.

The metals giant has said the accident could have been caused by global warming thawing the permafrost under the fuel reservoir.

It has acknowledged it did not specifically monitor the condition of permafrost at its sites in the past and said it would do a full audit shortly.

According to a press update by Norilsk Nickel, a total of 673 people are involved in the clean-up operations.