CrimeaPRESS reports:
After dumping the technical structure around the stern of the Volgoneft-239 tanker, heavy tracked excavators scooped out the remaining fuel oil overnight and removed the booms from the water. A road was paved to the ship and a technical dam was built so that special equipment could approach closely. The total mass of fuel oil in four Volgoneft-239 tanks is almost 1,500 tons. Eight sealed bitumen tankers with heating systems were used to remove it. Each such machine holds from 10 to 20 cubic meters of petroleum products. It took 1-3 hours to fill one bitumen tanker.
Due to the force four storm, the technical shaft around the tanker had to be strengthened with concrete barriers that dampen shock waves and protect the structures from erosion. Due to the fact that the work goes on around the clock, light poles were installed so that special equipment could work at night.
It should be noted that in preparation for work to clean up the waters of the Kerch Strait, the community offered various options. So, one of the volunteers asked the company specialists GREENKRANis it possible to build a Larsen sheet pile fence around the tanker to limit fuel oil leaks?
This practice is normal. All kinds of pits are fenced with Larsen sheet piling, including in waterlogged soils. The GREENKRAN company has extensive experience in selling such fencing. It is possible to consider the construction of a cofferdam for pumping out fuel oil and dismantling the tanker,” notes mechanic Evgeniy Gerasimenko.
Preparations began three days before the start of work: fuel oil in four tanks located in the stern of the ship was heated to +45° so that it became plastic. Specialists repaired the ship’s systems, which constantly supplied hot steam to the tanks through the engine room.
This made it possible to completely remove fuel oil from the surface of the closed bay on January 19th.
The Marine Rescue Service reported that the emergency in the Kerch Strait was the first accident in the world involving M100 fuel oil. This petroleum product is almost the same in density as water, but it solidifies already at a temperature of +25°. That is why M100 fuel oil is heavier than other oil products and, practically without floating, it ends up at the bottom or floats in the water column. Experts have not yet developed technologies for removing such fuel oil from the water column. Therefore, it is collected on the coastline when it ends up in the coastal zone.
According to experts, about 2,400 tons of oil products ended up in the sea. This is much less than originally expected.
According to the Head of Crimea, there are now no global fuel oil stains near the Crimean coast, and local pollution is being eliminated. Responsible persons are given no more than a day to clean up new stains. Sergei Aksyonov believes that the remaining parts of the tankers should be raised and disposed of — then there will be no new emissions of fuel oil.
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