MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax-AVN) - Servicemen from a platoon on the elimination of ecological damage that was formed in the Northern Fleet for clearing the Arctic region have dumped more than 12,000 metallic barrels that remained on the Kotelny Island, New Siberian Islands, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"Compressed barrels were loaded on more than 30 20-tonne containers which will be delivered to the mainland during the summer navigation season. All works are being done according to the predetermined schedule and without any delays," the Northern Fleet's press service said in a statement received by Interfax-AVN on Monday.
"According to preliminary estimates, more than 110,000 200-liter metallic barrels, in which fuels and lubricants were supplied, have been stored on the New Siberian Islands since the Soviet times," it reads.
The platoon has been working on the Kotelny Island for about two months. By two hydraulic presses servicemen are plating the barrels and then putting them in the containers. In the pressing the size of thin-walled barrels shrinks tenfold, that of heavy and thick-walled barrels only three-four times. Up to 800 pressed barrels can be put in each container. The aggregate weight of scrapped metal prepared for transportation has already exceeded 200 tonnes, the Northern Fleet said.