The Hindu : National : No radioactive material found on ship at Alang

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National

No radioactive material found on ship at Alang

Aarti Dhar

There is lack of safety precautions, says report
“Set up monitoring committee on ship breaking”

NEW DELHI: The Central technical team sent to inspect Platinum-II, the ship that anchored at Bhavnagar Anchorage Point along the Alang coast in Gujarat last month, has concluded that the vessel is a passenger ship and not carrying any radioactive or hazardous waste in loose form or as cargo.

Hazardous waste like asbestos containing material (ACM) and poly chlorinated by-phenyls (PCB), and radioactive material were found on the ship structure as is common in any ship of this type and size of the 1950s. The five-member team arrived at this conclusion after examining all available/relevant documents and after having detailed discussion and inspection.

Though it was a ship of U.S. origin, it was last registered at the Republic of Kiribati in September 2009 and the last port was Dubai. Allegations on issues related to violation of the Orders of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Toxic Substances Control Act (USEPA) is not known and must have been verified as per normal procedure followed for such purposes at the Republic of Kiribati before registration in the name of M/s Platinum Investment Services Corporation, the Central team has said in its report.

The team could make an assessment of the ACM but found it difficult to quantitatively assess the quantity of PCBs.

While accomplishing the task given to it, the Central team found “sailing in the high sea on and around the Amavasya day [high tide day] too risky.” Further, there is lack of safety precautions while boarding the tug to the ship and vice-versa where there may be a risk to human lives, the report points out.

Quoting warnings by the Gujarat Maritime Board regarding the hazard, the team said it actually faced great difficulties in carrying out the inspection well inside the sea and far away from the anchorage point. The problems are further aggravated when the ships are too big/high and the inspection team consists of members not conversant with climbing the top of the ship in a monkey ladder.

The report has suggested that the Ministry of Environment and Forests constitute a standing monitoring committee on ship breaking, if not done already, to monitor/review the implementation of Recommendations of the Technical Expert Committee on at least half-yearly basis.

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