An unpleasant smell is spreading in and around Kralupy, it was even felt in Prague
“Since the morning hours, an unpleasant smell has been noticed in the territory of our municipality,” the municipality of Líbeznice informed facebook. People from the surrounding area responded to the post, according to whom the smell was felt in Miškovice, Nehvizdy, Řež, Klecany, but also in Prague 8 or in Prague’s Vysočany.
“My eyes burn terribly and I also feel a burning sensation in my throat,” Zdeňka Vavrová, for example, responded to the post.
PHOTO: Residents of Kralup were frightened by black smoke. He could be seen from miles away
City of Krlaupy informed, that according to Unipetrol’s statement, the cause of the current state of flaring is due to technological malfunctions. It should be removed by a professional company during today.
“There was a malfunction in the technological equipment in the Kralupe refinery on Saturday morning. This could be the cause of the temporary occurrence of odorous substances in the air depending on the pressure and direction of the wind flow. As part of the air monitoring, we did not detect any violation of hygienic limits. To eliminate the malfunction we are still working,” ORLEN Unipetrol group press spokesman Pavel Kaidl told Deník.
As informed by the municipality Loverprofessional firefighters from Neratovice went to the scene, but the devices did not detect any pollutants in the air during monitoring.
The ecological center of Kralupa nad Vltavou on its own websites that already on Saturday, the furnace broke down in Unipetr and gas was introduced to burn sulfanes on the field burner and there may be an odor. On Sunday, the center reported a failure of an electrostatic precipitator for dust particles that could be placed in large quantities in the air.
A flare, also known by other names, most commonly as a field burner, is a device designed to burn excess flammable gases that would escape into the atmosphere without its use. It is mainly used in chemical plants, oil refineries and natural gas processing plants. It serves both as part of normal operation, i.e. completely standard, and when dealing with emergency situations or in case of technological changes. Especially in the case of chemistry, when field burners are used to burn the initial non-standard production during the start-up of operations after shutdowns or modernization, sometimes the optical and acoustic effects associated with their operation can attract the attention of the surroundings and scare people.
The smell has been bothering the city and its surroundings for a long time
Residents of Kralup and the surrounding area have been suffering from a strong odor for a long time. However, it was still not possible to determine its origin. The environmental inspector checked the smell right away, but without results. The case reached the Ministry of the Environment, to which Deputy Mayor Kralup Vojtěch Pohl (Nová Vlna) turned.
The ministry is already dealing with the strong smell in Kralupy nad Vltavou
In and around the city, there was a measurement carried out by a private form. “Four collection sites were deployed – dosimetry and two additional formaldehyde meters for complex measurements. The locations were chosen with the highest number of complaints, namely in Veltrusy, Chvatěruby and two meters were directly in Kralupy,” added the deputy mayor.
The measurement was sent to the laboratory and the results are known during July.