Panama Papers in Brest
The Captain Tsarev has been rusting for 7 and a half years in basin n°5 of the commercial port of Brest. Built in 1982 in Lübeck (Germany), 153.60m in length, the ship suffered an engine failure and was towed to the Brittany port in November 2008. She never left. The crew has not been paid, 15 of the 24 Russian and Ukranian crew members disembarked in February 2009, the others remained on board until September 2009. The Captain Tsarev has been visited, pillaged, squatted, and suffered a fire in September 2014. The Russian ship-owner based in Piraeus (Greece) no longer gives any sign of life. The vessel is a dump. She contains 4 to 500 t of extinguishing water following the fire, asbestos and 5 to 600 t of fuel. She flies the Panama flag.
Stocamine* and Cigéo** in the Same Boat
*Stocamine at Wittelsheim near Mulhouse was a center for deep Storage- 550 meters- for non-recyclable and non-radioactive toxic waste in a salt bed. Between February 1999 and September 2002, 44,000 tons of waste has been stored there.
** Cigéo is at the borders of the Meuse and Haute-Marne is an in depth storage project – 500 meters – for non-recyclable radioactive waste in a layer of clay.
In 1997, the prefectural authorization for Stocamine included a 30-year operation and demanded removal of the after that term except in case of an authorization renewal. Reversibility was accompanied by technical and financial provisions ensuring, at any time, the withdrawal of all or some of the waste.
The end of the Probo Koala
The Hua Wen, ex-Probo Koala is going to be demolished in the coming weeks in China. From August 2006 on, the scattering in Abidjan of desulphurization waste containing mercaptan and hydrogen sulphide has provoked a panic and the paralysis of Ivory Coast business capital. 16 fatalities were officially reported; the victims had been exposed to the toxic emanations. The toxic and stinky waste which had been unloaded from the Probo Koala slop tanks had illegally left Amsterdam and Tallinn, two North European ports (1).
