A “crude oil leak” since the TotalEnergies refinery in Donges pollutes “an area of 500 m2” of the Loire, the Loire-Atlantique prefecture said on Sunday, November 24, 2024, which claims to contain it “in part”.
“The TotalEnergies refinery in Donges detected yesterday evening a crude oil leak at the elbow of a line 30 cm in diameter »announced the prefecture in a press release published on Sunday. She says she mobilized “all state services […] immediately “.
Difficult encirclement of the area
“The leak materialized as a 2 cm breach on a weld bead”which created “a trickle of flow leading to an iridescence of a surface area of approximately 500 m2 in the Loire”specified the prefecture.
“This area could be partly contained by a double containment system via floating booms despite climatic conditions which make it difficult to encircle this iridescent zone”she reported.
According to the prefecture, “since 3:45 a.m.” Sunday, “no more crude oil flows into the Loire” et “interventions are underway to permanently plug the leak”.
Environmental impact assessment in progress
“The iridescent waters should partly disperse naturally and be transferred, by the action of the wind, to the banks”she said, ensuring that the environmental impact of this leak is being assessed.
In 2008, the banks of the Loire estuary had to be cleaned, contaminated by a leak of several hundred tonnes of oil from the Donges refinery.
© (Photo archives NR, Hugues Le Guellec)
Contacted by AFP, the management of the Donges refinery could not be immediately reached on Sunday morning.
In December 2022, a leak from this refinery, classified Seveso high threshold, caused the flow of 700,000 liters of gasoline.
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