The Arbitration Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory partially upheld the claim of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor) against the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company to recover more than 148 billion rubles as a fine for environmental damage due to the oil spill at the Norilsk thermal power plant No. 3. The fine was reduced to 146 billion rubles.

“[The court] orders the Norilsk thermal power plant to pay 146.177 billion rubles for environmental damage due to the accident at the hazardous fuel production facility, the Norilsk thermal power plant No. 3, including 145.493 billion rubles to the federal budget as compensation for damage to water bodies and 684.9 thousand rubles to the municipal district of Norilsk as compensation for damage to the soil,” Judge Natalya Varygina announced.

In late May one of the fuel storage tanks at thermal power plant 3, owned by a Nornickel subsidiary, collapsed due to ground subsidence beneath its support structure. This resulted in over 20,000 tonnes of oil products spilling from the reservoir. Rosprirodnadzor estimated the environmental damage at about 148 billion rubles. However, Nornickel did not agree with the calculation methodology: according to the company, the damage amounted to 21.4 billion rubles.