MOSCOW, September 11. / TASS /: Norilsk Nickel has almost finished gathering fuel that got into water bodies near Norilsk after the accident at TPP-3, the first vice-president and operating director of the company Sergei Dyachenko told reporters on Friday.
According to the company, this is a volume of no more than 12,000 tons, which is much less than the estimates made by Rosprirodnadzor, the Russian environmental regulator.
"We are talking about a volume of about 12,000 tons, we will also clarify the density when converting from cubes to tonnes. But it will not be much less, nor much more," said Dyachenko, referring to the amount of fuel that got after the destruction of the diesel tank at CHPP-3. According to Dyachenko, today "there is no fuel on the water surface", the collection of fuel has been completed by more than 90%. "Today we can assume that what we have gathered and separated is exactly the fuel that got into the water," he concluded.
Earlier, Rosprirodnadzor estimated the amount that got into Lake Pyasino and the Ambarnaya River at 15,000 tonnes. At the same time, about 6,000 tonnes got into the soil, the department said. In total, it was believed that about 21,000 tonnes flowed from the reservoir. According to Dyachenko, the volume of oil products that got into the soil has yet to be assessed.
In total, 188,000 tonnes of contaminated soil were removed, now it is stored in special hangars, said Dyachenko.
Speaking about the amount of damage in 148 bln rubles, which was previously announced by Rosprirodnadzor, Dyachenko said that "its clearly not like that." He also said that the company spent about 8 bln rubles in total to eliminate the consequences of the accident.
A claim to the Arbitration Court of the Krasnoyarsk Region against a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel was filed by the territorial office Rosprirodnadzor. The court must decide on the acceptance of the statement of claim before September 15. According to official data, on May 29, more than 21,000 tonnes of fuel spilled after a storage tank collapsed at a power plant operated by CHPP-3, a subsidiary of metals giant Norilsk Nickel, in the city of Norilsk. The fuel leaked, flooding an area of 180,000 square meters of terrain and also into local rivers, causing damage to the environment.
