Accident in Norilsk caused by absence of proper monitoring of permafrost, reservoirs - Federation Council dep speaker
NORILSK/MOSCOW. Oct 13 (Interfax) - The absence of monitoring of the permafrost situation and the state of diesel fuel reservoirs led to the accident in Norilsk, Russian Federation Council Deputy Speaker Nikolai Zhuravlev said.
"Tomorrow at a meeting of the [Federation Council] committees we will discuss how all this actually happened, because there was no monitoring of the state of the permafrost, of the state of the reservoirs where diesel fuel is stored, which spilled. Because, of course, what we saw at the site isn't the best condition of the technical and material base that we would like to see," Zhuralev told reporters during a visit of senators to Norilsk on Tuesday.
"There was clearly no monitoring at all, and this led, among other things, to these sad consequences," he said.
He said that at present, work on collecting the diesel fuel "is in large part already completed."
Chairman of the Federation Council Committee for Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management Alexei Mayorov, in turn, said in response to reporters' questions regarding the reasons for the accident that "without a doubt, the owner is guilty, that's unquestionable; it bears responsibility for the situation at hand."
"We know that the storage facility where the accident happened was built in 1985. Essentially, the Nornickel company inherited it from the Soviet times, but on the other hand, we understand perfectly well that no one abolished the task of technical supervision, which must be conducted promptly, in full, and to high standards," Mayorov said.
He additionally said that it was necessary to wait for conclusions of the law enforcement agencies.
The deputy speaker and heads of committees of the Federation Council visited the Krasnoyarsk Territory in order to inspect the process of the fuel spill cleanup in the region and speak to residents and the governor, as well as to Norilsk Nickel employees.
On Tuesday, senators inspected the process of the cleanup of the federal level emergency linked to the diesel fuel spill at Heat and Power Plant No. 3.