MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Diesel fuel spill on the Ambarnaya River in Norilsk can be removed in 14 days in good weather, Sergey Dyachenko, first vice president and chief operating officer of Nornickel, said on Thursday.

He cited marine experts, who concluded that this term would be required if "tanks and additional equipment are deployed." Apart from that to make it into this timeframe, the wind must be favorable.

"The wind changes very often and it would be good if the wind was driving this oil stain towards the booms. This would ensure a more efficient collection [of fuel spill]. But the wind sometimes blows in the opposite direction, "he said in the 60 Minutes program on Russia’s Rossiya-1 federal television channel.

Dyachenko added that at present the situation with the fuel spill is under control. "We found a way how to segment this all. Several teams will collect this oil stain from the water," he explained.

A marine rescue service unit from Murmansk has been involved in the liquidation of the spill, having experience in responding to more than 50 oil spills in different parts of the world. Specialists managed to set several lines of barriers on the Ambarnaya River and curb further leakage. Now rescuers are busy localizing the spill. Soil was replaced on site and treated with special sorbents. Contaminated soil was transported to a temporary storage facility.

In total, about 300 people and more than 70 units of equipment of Nornickel’s polar branch, Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company and specialized organizations are deployed.

About incident

The loss of containment of the diesel fuel tank occurred on the territory of the combined heat and power plant CHPP-3 in Norilsk, Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Region, on May 29. A motor vehicle entered the fuel spill, causing the fire outbreak. More than 21,000 tonnes of fuel escaped in total.

The Prosecutor General’s Office is supervising the inspection of the site in connection with the spill of oil products. Criminal proceedings have been instituted under Part 1 of Article 254 (Land Deterioration) and Article 250 (Water Pollution) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The three cases have already been consolidated into a single case. Head of the CHPP-3 power plant’s workshop Vyacheslav Starostin was detained.

The power plant CHPP-3 belongs to Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company (NTEC), which is part of the Nornickel group.