IAEA will support Peru in fighting the oil spill, says Director General Grossi

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will send experts and sophisticated monitoring equipment to help Peru assess and limit the environmental damage from a major oil spill in its coastal waters, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told the South American nation’s foreign minister today.

In a video meeting with Foreign Minister Óscar Maúrtua de Romaña following Peru’s request for urgent assistance, Director-General Grossi said nuclear techniques can be used to gather the precise scientific data authorities need to effectively manage and overcome the effects of the oil spill environmental crisis.

“The IAEA will take immediate action to help Peru deal with this serious situation that threatens the country’s precious coastal environment as well as its fisheries-dependent economy,” he said. “In the next few days, as a first step, we will dispatch an exploratory expert mission to support the country’s efforts to clean up the oil spill and reduce the negative consequences as much as possible.”

Based on the mission results, the IAEA will be able to provide targeted nuclear-related technology for the development of a comprehensive long-term surveillance program in the affected area’s coastal waters, sediments, biota and air. The IAEA can also provide specialized equipment, technical advice and training to set up a dedicated laboratory facility for oil spill monitoring and toxicity assessment.

“The deployment of world-class experts and powerful surveillance equipment can make a real difference in Peru’s fight against this environmental disaster,” said Director General Grossi.

The IAEA assistance mission is carried out in coordination with relevant UN organizations with a mandate in the field of marine pollution such as the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The IAEA provides expertise on a range of nuclear and isotopic techniques to gain a better understanding of marine pollutants such as oil and paraffin. This helps countries identify the source of spills, better plan cleanup efforts, and determine where responsibility lies.

The oil spill in Peru’s waters, reportedly caused by large waves near a refinery triggered by a volcanic eruption in Tonga, has affected large areas both at sea and on land, according to the country’s environment ministry.

The planned IAEA support draws on the scientific expertise of its Marine Environmental Studies Laboratories in Monaco. These unique laboratories within the United Nations system study the effects of pollution on marine ecosystems.

The IAEA provided similar assistance to Sri Lanka after a container ship burned and sank off the coast of Colombo in May 2021, causing a toxic chemical leak, and to Mauritius after large quantities of fuel oil spilled into the Indian Ocean around the island nation were a ship that ran aground off its coast in July 2020.

The IAEA, which joined the Bonn Convention for the Identification of Oil Spills (OSINet) in 2014, has been working on monitoring petroleum hydrocarbons and their derivatives in the oceans for years. It has developed methods based on stable carbon isotope analysis and chemical signatures that allow researchers to trace the origin of pollutants.