Hydro-Québec mops up another Nunavik fuel spill

An estimated 13,500 litres of fuel spilled from Hydro-Québec’s power plant in Inukjuak Sept. 17, which the corporation says has now been contained. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Updated Sept. 21, 11:00 a.m.

Hydro-Québec says a recent fuel spill in Inukjuak happened during the transfer of diesel between the two tanks that supply the power plant in that Nunavik community.

Quebec’s power corporation said the accidental spill happened Sept. 14, releasing an estimated 13,500 litres of diesel into the Hudson coast community of about 1,600.

A preliminary assessment indicates the spill was caused by human error, said Hydro-Québec spokesman Christian Garneau. There was ongoing work to upgrade the plant underway at the time of the spill, he noted.

Garneau said the corporation sent an intervention team to the community Sept. 15 to help confine the spilled fuel.

“We have begun digging a trench around the reservoir in order to confine the diesel,” Garneau said in a Sept. 17 email to Nunatsiaq News.

“The diesel is confined in a very limited area, in the immediate vicinity of the power plant.”

The Kativik Regional Government’s environment department said it has helped the northern village choose a location to dig a shallow pit, to be fitted with a membrane, to temporarily store the contaminated soil.

Hydro-Québec will do tests on to determine the level of contamination in the surrounding area this week, but the agency says no body of water has been affected by the spill.

In the meantime, Garneau said there hasn’t been any disruption to the distribution of electricity, and the power plant continues to supply electricity to the community.

The diesel spill comes about seven weeks after another spill from the power plant in Ivujivik, on Nunavik’s Hudson Strait.

Hydro-Québec now says that spill, which leaked roughly 14,000 litres of diesel and caused mechanical failure at its local plant was due to human error.

But the corporation says there is no link between the two spills, nor do the spills indicate problems with Hydro-Québec plants in the region.