A Russian mining giant behind a massive Arctic fuel spill last month said it had suspended workers at a metal plant who were responsible for pumping sewage into the nearby tundra.
Norilsk Nickel cited a “flagrant violation of operating rules” in a statement Sunday, announcing that he had suspended employees responsible for dumping wastewater from a dangerously full tank into wildlife.
The incident occurred at the Talnakh enrichment plant near the arctic city of Norilsk, the company said, a month after the unprecedented fuel leak prompted President Vladimir Putin to declare a state of emergency.
More than 21,000 tons of diesel leaked from a fuel storage tank at one of the company’s subsidiary plants near Norilsk. Fuel seeped into the ground, turning the nearby waterways bright red.
A source told Russia’s Interfax news agency on Sunday that in the most recent case, approximately 6,000 cubic meters of liquid used to process minerals at the facility had been dumped and that the discharge had taken “several hours.”
The source said it was impossible to determine how far the wastewater had dispersed.
The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta published videos of the scene showing large metal pipes carrying sewage from the reservoir and pouring foamy liquid on nearby trees.
Journalists said the factory deliberately channeled the wastewater into wildlife areas and quickly removed its pipes when investigators and emergency services arrived on the scene.
The Investigation Committee, which investigates serious crimes, said it had received reports of “unauthorized dumping of liquid waste in the tundra” at the installation site, and that it had opened an investigation.
Heavy machinery used to clean the pipes crushed a car transporting officials to the scene, the national newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported.
No injuries
Interfax said no one was injured in the incident that was also being investigated.
Norilsk Nickel spokeswoman Tatiana Egorova told the AFP news agency on Sunday that factory employees had pumped “purified water” and that an internal investigation was underway.
Russia’s natural resources agency said the decision to remove water from the reservoir was made to avoid an emergency after heavy rains and recent tests have caused water levels to rise dramatically.
Local emergency services in a statement said the sewage was unlikely to reach the nearby Kharayelakh river.
The massive fuel spill last month took place at a plant owned by a Norilsk Nickel subsidiary, which had said the fuel tank had collapsed or sank due to melting permafrost due to climate change.
Putin declared an emergency situation after the accident and Norilsk Nickel’s boss, oligarch Vladimir Potanin, promised to pay the costs of the cleanup.
Russian authorities said earlier this month that they had cleaned up the spill from a river surface, but that the full cleanup could take years.
