Vladimir Potanin takes part in a meeting with President Putin to discuss clean-up operation after fuel spill

Nornickel has mobilised people and resources to eliminate the consequences of the diesel fuel incident at a CHPP-3 storage tank, Nornickel’s President Vladimir Potanin reported from Norilsk during a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. The spill has been localised and is not spreading any further.

“The Company has mobilised people and resources to eliminate the consequences of this spill. Aiming to use the best available techniques, we opt for what would be best for the environment, rather than choosing low cost solutions. The Company will fully finance the clean-up operation and bring the ecosystem back to its normal state,” said Vladimir Potanin.

Held in a video conference format, the meeting was attended by Minister for Emergencies Yevgeny Zinichev, Head of Rosprirodnadzor Svetlana Radionova, Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Uss, and Nornickel’s President Vladimir Potanin, who are all currently in Norilsk where the spill took place.

“The incident has been localised. We have laid booms and stopped the spill from spreading further. Our goal now is to collect the oil products,” said Minister for Emergencies Yevgeny Zinichev during the meeting.

According to Vladimir Potanin, the Company had a total of 16,000 tonnes of containers delivered to the site to gather up all the fuel that had leaked into the water system. Storage facilities with a capacity of more than 100,000 tonnes have been prepared to accommodate contaminated soil, including 7,000 tonnes that have been collected to date. The clean-up effort is already underway at around 6,500 sq m of land.

Nornickel’s President thanked members of the rescue teams involved in the response effort to contain the spill, including the Ministry for Emergencies, Rosprirodnadzor, Marine Rescue Service, and experts from oil companies that arrived to help with the clean-up as quickly as possible.

Vladimir Potanin also said that the Company is closely engaging with environmental groups and the area’s indigenous communities in order to initiate a number of programmes. An initiative to release juveniles of fish species into water bodies as a way to preserve rare types of fish, along with a programme to increase reindeer population in the area will continue once the incident clean-up is completed.