The Environment Chronicle

On December 4, 2008, the Antarctic cruise vessel MV Ushuaia grounded at the entrance of Wilhelmina Bay near Two diesel tanks were damaged and spilled marine gasoil into the sea. The size of the spill was initially estimated with 50x300 meters.

Smoke was detected Friday at a Japanese nuclear power complex. The smoke was found at a solid waste facility at the Tokaimura plant northeast of Tokyo in a room where metal waste is burned. There was no release of radioactivity.

Above two thousand oil-slicked penguins have washed up dead on the beaches of a popular Brasilian resort in the south of Brazil.

On 28 August at 23:31 the European Commission received an ECURIE alert notification from Belgium concerning a radiological incident in the Institut National de Radio-éléments (IRE) in Fleurus, Belgium. There had been a release of gaseous Iodine-131 from this facility. The incident had been classified Level 3 on the international INES scale on 26 August. On the basis of the analysis of environmental samples the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control has now decided to implement protective actions, in particular restrictions on the consumption of local food produce (vegetables and milk).

The Princess of the Stars went aground and sank on 21 June 2008 in the Philippines. The ferry was carrying various hazardous materials, in particular a 40-ft container containing 10 metric tonnes of endosulfan, a toxic pesticide.

An increased level of radioactivity was detected in the Asse II nuclear waste disposal site near Wolfenbuettel. A radioactive salt solution in the research mine is eight to nine times more radioactive than maximum acceptable limits. In addition to caesium, strontium, radium and plutonium have been measured. Recently it has become known that there has been a continuous flow of radioactive brine into Asse II for several years, which has been pumped into the deeper areas of the former salt mine by the operators. Asse was the world’s first underground nuclear waste disposal site. Since 1967, experiments for permanent and safe storage and disposal of nuclear waste have been performed in this site. The former salt mine has become a repository particularly for low- and medium-level radioactive waste from clinics and laboratories (approximately 130,000 barrels).

The Krsko NPP was safely shut down on 4 June, after a primary circuit leak was detected at 3:07 p.m. The reactor power was zero at 8:10 p.m. The event was classified as an unusual event.

On Sunday 16 March 2008, a pipe leak caused a spill of an estimated 400 tonnes of bunker fuel during the loading of a vessel at Donges Refinery, Loire-Atlantique, France.

The cargo ship Ice Prince, which was en route to Alexandria carrying more than 5,000 metric tonnes of sawn timber, made an emergency call to the coastguard on the evening of January 13 after getting into difficulties 27 miles off the Devon coast. It eventually sank 26 miles south south east off the coast of Portland Bill, Dorset, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The Ice Prince had been carrying an estimated 313 metric tons of intermediate fuel oil and other lubricating oils in the engine spaces.