The Environment Chronicle

On 12 June 2012 between 17,000 and 30,000 litres of oil leaked into the Danube in the port of the Slovakian capital Bratislava on Tuesday, local media reported. The fire brigade were able to retain most of the leaked oil in the port area, but indeterminate volumes are thought to have reached the Danube and its branch, the Little Danube.

An oil spill was caused by a pipeline rupture on 7 June, polluting a tributary of Red Deer River, in Alberta, south-west Canada. 475,000 litres of crude oil was spilt, threatening the drinking water supply of the 90,000 inhabitants of Red Deer. The operating company Plains Midstream Canada stopped pipeline operations and shut the valves as soon as the leak was discovered, as well as setting up floating booms.

On 29 May 2012, Unit 4 at the Cattenom nuclear power plant was automatically shut following an electricity failure.

On 25 April 2012, a large amount of diesel fuel was spilled into the Angara river. The accident occurred because of an illegal tie-in into the local oil pipeline where it intersects a storm drain in Usolye-Sibirskoye. Current estimate say that about 300 metric tons of diesel fuel were spilled into the river.

Penly Nuclear power station located 6 miles northeast of Dieppe, Normandy, France was automatically shut down on April 5, 2012 at 11:20 UTC. Operating company EdF reported two small oil fires inside the reactor building from a leaking oil pipe. By late afternoon, a defect was identified on a joint of one of the four cooling pumps of the nuclear reactor 2, causing a leak of radioactive water collected in tanks designed for this purpose. This event has been classified as level 1 on the INES scale.

On 25 March 2012, Total reported that a gas leak occurred following an operation on well G4 on the wellhead platform at the Elgin gas field which is located in the UK North Sea approximately 240 km east of Aberdeen. On May 16, Total announced that the leak was stopped after a well intervention operation, which involved pumping heavy mud into the leaking well. From an estimated initial gas flow rate of around 2 kg/second, the leak had progressively decreased to an estimated 0.5 kg/s.

The Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base is a research station, as part of the Brazilian Antarctic Program, located in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, 130 km from the South American continent. The station began operating on 6 February 1984. On 25 February, 2012, a blast in the machine room housing the generators at the station caused a fire that, according to the Brazilian navy, destroyed approximately 70% of the compound.

On 4 February 2012, a pipeline carrying pressurised oil fractured in the state of Monagas, Venezuela. Anywhere from 40,000-120,000 barrels poured into a river that supplies drinking and irrigation water. Monagas state Gov. Jose Gregorio Briceno declared a "state of emergency" following the spill, halting water distribution and closing schools in the state's capital of Maturin, which is located approximately 255 miles (410 kilometers) northeast of Caracas.

The Panamanian registered general cargo ship Tycoon was wrecked on 8 January 2012 after breaking her moorings and was pushed into the cliffs at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island and broke up, spilling oil and phosphate into the sea.

On 8 January 2012, the container ship Rena broke in two after enduring heavy winds and seas overnight. By 10 January 2012, the stern section had sunk almost completely.