LLANGENNECH DERAILMENT AND SUBSEQUENT FUEL SPILLAGE RAIL LINE REOPENS for environmental contaminants, including oil, indicate levels continue to be well within regulatory limits. Incident recovery manager Stuart Thomas, of Natural Resources Wales, has been at the heart of the recovery effort.
Considerable efforts were made to recover the lost diesel. – Adler and Allan
Contaminated soil from 150 metres of railway at a depth of two metres and width of 20 metres has been excavated during the 24/7 operation. The soil has been replaced with new, clean material from quarries in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire that match the chemical and physical properties of that already on site. Contaminated materials have been removed by lorry and taken to a licenced waste management facility near Merthyr Tydfil. Monitoring of the site and the wider environment is ongoing to ensure the safety and quality of shellfish harvested from the area. Latest laboratory results from the analysis of cockles and mussels
14
“
Stuart Thomas said:
This is the most challenging recovery operation we’ve seen since Pembrokeshire’s Sea Empress disaster 25 years ago. A phenomenal amount of work has been carried out at the site to safely remove the contaminated soil and reinstate the ground. Contractors have worked around the clock, and have had to overcome many challenges, including flooding of the site during recent severe weather.
“
Environmental contractors Adler and Allan have been working around the clock to complete the complex remediation work at the site where a freight train pulling 25 wagons each containing up to 100,000 litres of diesel derailed near Llangennech in Carmarthenshire on 26 August 2020. The derailment and the subsequent damage to the wagons resulted in a significant spillage of diesel and a major fire.
“
The physical works are now nearing completion with just the Coal Authority land to treat, replanting to take place and of course the reopening of the railway line. Monitoring of the site and surrounding area, which includes four Sites of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation, will continue for years to come. “I’m very pleased to see the latest shellfish monitoring results continue to be well within regulatory limits. Local shellfish producers have been informed.
“
The ongoing clean-up of the Llangennech freight derailment and diesel spill site has been the most challenging recovery operation since the Sea Empress disaster 25 years ago, according to the Natural Resource Wales, Incident Recovery Manager.
The Sea Empress ran aground in Milford Haven with the loss of 72,000 tons of crude oil in February 1995 – Copyright PA The final part of the remediation is now taking place on Coal Authority land. This work includes the removal of the top layer of ground where contaminated fire water was pumped during the incident in an area of woodland to the north east of the
