- Email: [email protected]
Antarctic icebreaker
Volume 21/Number 6/June 1990
Antarctic Icebreaker
Round-the-World News
The National Science Foundation has agreed to help finance construction of the first US icebreaker to be dedicated to Antarctic research. Construction of the 91 m ship is expected to be completed at a Louisiana shipyard by January 1992. The ship, which will carry 17 researchers, 22 crew, and 2 helicopters, will be designed to break up to 0.9 m of ice at a speed of 3 knots. The Foundation, which manages the US Antarctic research programme, signed an $83.8 million contract to pay for the ship's lease for its first ten years of service. One of the investigations conducted on the ship initially will be a study of physical processes in the western Weddell Sea. The ship will support a US-Soviet base camp established on sea ice to study climate changes and ocean circulation. The ship will also be used in studies of the winter stages of krill and other marine organisms, the effect of the annual melting of sea ice on the productivity of ice-associated marine life, and marine food chain dynamics.
Egypt
Antarctic Cleanup In response to charges that the United States was the largest polluter in Antarctica, the US Congress has appropriated $10 million for cleanup of the area. The National Science Foundation (NSF) which administers the Nation's Antarctic programme, was given the funds to initiate a new safety, health, and environment programme. The programme will include a $5 million effort to cleanup the existing environmental problems. The Environmental Defense Fund and Greenpeace had charged that NSF was violating US pollution regulations and was threatening the pristine Antarctic environment with careless management of its research stations (see Mat: Pollut. Bull. 19,652). The new funds will be used to treat the sewage generated at McMurdo Station, the largest research base on the continent with a summer population of about 1200 people. The treatment programme will macerate and dilute the sewage with hot brine before discharging it into McMurdo Sound. Currently, the station discharges raw sewage into the Sound, NSF will begin cleanup of dump areas by returning discarded machinery and materials to the US and by importing fewer plastic materials into the continent. The Foundation will also study the feasibility of installing an incinerator to curtail its current practice of open burning of combustible wastes.
Egypt is set to increase fines next year on ships polluting the Suez Canal and other waterways. Vessels spilling oil will be fined up to four times the level now in force, bringing the maximum fine up to $20 000. Fines for the disposal of waste material into waterways are increased from S1000 to $5000. The increases were recently announced by the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority. Mohammed Ezzat Edel.
Turkey A jail sentence of two and a half years for the masters of two ships involved in a collision at the entrance to the Bosphorus has been called for by a Turkish public prosecutor. The collision of the ships, the Iraqi tanker Jambur and the Chinese vessel Daton Fuahan resulted in 2.5 million 1 of gas oil being spilled from a ruptured port side tank on the Jarnbur. The prosecutor's demands come at the opening of the trial of the Iraqi master, Karim Jabbar Hassan and the Chinese master, Zhong Xiongmin. The two were charged with negligence and told the court, through translators, that they were not at fault because they had sent warning signals but had received no reply.
Italy The Ro-ro mv Zanoobia, which was detained in Genoa in May 1988 for allegedly exporting toxic waste cargo from Italy, remains there after almost two years. There is still no prospect for an early resolution of the matter.
Netherlands The Dutch have just opened the world's largest chemical waste dump on Rotterdam's Maasvlakte, for the exclusive use of Dutch based companies, The dump can hold a total of 230 000 t of untreated waste which includes heavy metals. However, this is less than half the total amount of waste chemicals annually produced by the Netherlands. The dump cost S16 million to build and was financed by the state and business. It is fully sealed to prevent seepage and has an expected life of about four to eight years.
269
Antarctic Icebreaker
Round-the-World News
The National Science Foundation has agreed to help finance construction of the first US icebreaker to be dedicated to Antarctic research. Construction of the 91 m ship is expected to be completed at a Louisiana shipyard by January 1992. The ship, which will carry 17 researchers, 22 crew, and 2 helicopters, will be designed to break up to 0.9 m of ice at a speed of 3 knots. The Foundation, which manages the US Antarctic research programme, signed an $83.8 million contract to pay for the ship's lease for its first ten years of service. One of the investigations conducted on the ship initially will be a study of physical processes in the western Weddell Sea. The ship will support a US-Soviet base camp established on sea ice to study climate changes and ocean circulation. The ship will also be used in studies of the winter stages of krill and other marine organisms, the effect of the annual melting of sea ice on the productivity of ice-associated marine life, and marine food chain dynamics.
Egypt
Antarctic Cleanup In response to charges that the United States was the largest polluter in Antarctica, the US Congress has appropriated $10 million for cleanup of the area. The National Science Foundation (NSF) which administers the Nation's Antarctic programme, was given the funds to initiate a new safety, health, and environment programme. The programme will include a $5 million effort to cleanup the existing environmental problems. The Environmental Defense Fund and Greenpeace had charged that NSF was violating US pollution regulations and was threatening the pristine Antarctic environment with careless management of its research stations (see Mat: Pollut. Bull. 19,652). The new funds will be used to treat the sewage generated at McMurdo Station, the largest research base on the continent with a summer population of about 1200 people. The treatment programme will macerate and dilute the sewage with hot brine before discharging it into McMurdo Sound. Currently, the station discharges raw sewage into the Sound, NSF will begin cleanup of dump areas by returning discarded machinery and materials to the US and by importing fewer plastic materials into the continent. The Foundation will also study the feasibility of installing an incinerator to curtail its current practice of open burning of combustible wastes.
Egypt is set to increase fines next year on ships polluting the Suez Canal and other waterways. Vessels spilling oil will be fined up to four times the level now in force, bringing the maximum fine up to $20 000. Fines for the disposal of waste material into waterways are increased from S1000 to $5000. The increases were recently announced by the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority. Mohammed Ezzat Edel.
Turkey A jail sentence of two and a half years for the masters of two ships involved in a collision at the entrance to the Bosphorus has been called for by a Turkish public prosecutor. The collision of the ships, the Iraqi tanker Jambur and the Chinese vessel Daton Fuahan resulted in 2.5 million 1 of gas oil being spilled from a ruptured port side tank on the Jarnbur. The prosecutor's demands come at the opening of the trial of the Iraqi master, Karim Jabbar Hassan and the Chinese master, Zhong Xiongmin. The two were charged with negligence and told the court, through translators, that they were not at fault because they had sent warning signals but had received no reply.
Italy The Ro-ro mv Zanoobia, which was detained in Genoa in May 1988 for allegedly exporting toxic waste cargo from Italy, remains there after almost two years. There is still no prospect for an early resolution of the matter.
Netherlands The Dutch have just opened the world's largest chemical waste dump on Rotterdam's Maasvlakte, for the exclusive use of Dutch based companies, The dump can hold a total of 230 000 t of untreated waste which includes heavy metals. However, this is less than half the total amount of waste chemicals annually produced by the Netherlands. The dump cost S16 million to build and was financed by the state and business. It is fully sealed to prevent seepage and has an expected life of about four to eight years.
269