In mid-December 2013, Sea Marconi responded with pride to the invitation to go to Russia to offer support in managing the PCBs problem, with respect to the Stockholm Convention. The activity was born under the auspices of UNIDO, but a local operator already exists charged with the development of a pilot project on the contaminated (and non) equipment of the railway network of the Russian federation.
Rossijskie železnye dorogi (Russian railways) represent one of the largest global transportation company, with over 1,200,000 employees, about 85,000 km of tracks and hundreds of thousand pieces of electrical equipment with insulating fluids.

The choice of the railway network is strictly linked to its impact on the territory and the obvious consequences both for the environment and social. This is the reason that president Putin put forward at the Duma last year. The priority about the railways is part of the largest implementation of the Stockholm Convention as a concrete environmental protection.

It’s easy to imagine how the railways network represents a strategic infrastructure for Russia, thus investments for 120 billion € are envisaged in 5 years.

Sea Marconi has been picked-up for the 45 years of success in the management of transformers and other electrical equipment with oils contaminated by PCBs, and in particular for the most recent projects dealt with in this field on behalf of world organizations.

The meeting in Russia created the basis for a possible partnership with the local operator in charge and end with an agreement for the first supply, and relevant training for the its use, of the new kit recently developed by Sea Marconi: the kit SM-TCPs (Total Chlorine and PCB screening). This kit, part of the new line Smart field test, represents an innovative solution for the field determination, also by non-chemist personnel, of the contamination by PCBs of the oils filling electrical equipment.

The SM-TCPs kit has been chosen because it is the ideal instrument to perform the Life Cycle Management (LCM) activities including the inventory, monitoring, management, decontamination and/or disposal of electrical equipment with insulating oils containing PCBs; it complies with the European Directive (96/59/EC) for the use of the best available techniques (BAT) -96/61/EC and best environmental techniques (BEP). Moreover, it complies with the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) – 2001 and technical norms IEC 60422 Ed.4-2012, CENELEC CLC / TR 50503 February 2010, CIGRE 413 April 2010.

The German National Committee hosted the Plenary Meeting of TC10 ( IEC Fluids for electrotechnical applications) held on the 19^th and 20^th September, Burghausen, a nice town in Bavaria.

The Meeting was hosted by WACHER SILICONES, a German Company World Leader in the production of liquid insulations with silicon base.

CEI (Italian Electrotechnical Committee) holds since 1998 the Secretariat of this Committee with Prof. Massimo POMPILI (Secretary) of the University “La Sapienza” of Rome and Mr Vander TUMIATTI SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES of Collegno (Turin).

50 delegates participated at the 2011 TC10 Plenary Meeting representing 20 P-Members (over a total of 26 P-Members, i.e. Nations having the right to vote in TC10). Chief of the Italian delegation was (as already in Paris in 2007 and Milan in 2009) Dr. Claudio Puliti of ACEA SpA.

TC10 of IEC is one of the most important groups of IEC, also at historical level, since it has been created in 1924 under the designation “ Oils for transformers”, reflecting the only applications of those years. In 1926, the name of TC10 was changed into “Insulating oils” to cover other liquids of synthetic origin that stated to have a use in the electrical sector, as an alternative to mineral oils (i.e. deriving from petroleum oils).

A further widening of the scope of TC10 occurred in 1961, when to the same committee was allocated the task of arranging the Norms relative to gaseous insulations, such as sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). Finally, in 1980, the current designation “Fluids for electrotechnical applications” has bee assigned, since TC10 had also been charged with the task of developing Norms in the field of lubricants for turbines.

Currently, the TC10 of IEC has a portfolio of about 50IS (International Standards) and TR (Technical Report) falling within the 3 following categories:

– Test methods;

– Product specifications;

– Guides for the correct management of fluids for electrotechnical applications.

One of the most important results decided in the Burghausen Meeting, relates to the proposal by the Italian Secretariat for anticipating the revision of Standards 60376 and 60480 (relative to l’SF6) to include information about the methods for the determination of leakages of SF6, notoriously a greenhouse gas, in accordance with the Kyoto protocol. The modalities for the determination of these leakages shall be particularly useful for Electric Companies in arranging their Reports on Environmental Sustainability. To carry out this activity, Prof. Massimo Pompili (IT) has been nominated Project Leader and Convenor.

The revision of the TC10 Norms on sulphur hexafluoride shall be done also considering what has been stated both in the Technical Report IEC 62271-303 (High-voltage switchgear and control gear: Use and handling of sulphur hexafluoride) issued in July 2008 by SC17A and the CIGRE Brochure 276 (2005). Also, the report of October 2010, prepared within the European Commission “Preparatory study for the Review of Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases – Appendix A and B) shall be considered.

Moreover, the proposal by the Italian Secretariat (Prof. Massimo Pompili e Mr. Vander Tumiatti) to maintain the IEC Norms on PCBs, has been confirmed, since this problem doesn’t result being solved yet at global level and these Norms can provide a considerable help to the PEN (PCBs Elimination Network) of UNEP (United Nations for Environment Programme), recently started to guide the applicative phase that prescribes the elimination of PCBs at global level within 2028.

Instead, the Italian proposal about including in the current revision of IEC Standard 60422 Ed. 4 “Mineral insulating oils in electrical equipment – Supervision and maintenance guidance” a maximum limit of DBDS possibly present, in accordance with Brochure CIGRE 378. We remind that it is due, most of all, to Italy (SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES and TERNA SpA), the unexpected discovery of this antioxidant additive that, unfortunately, caused, and still causes, several catastrophic failures in the world of transformers and compensation reactors in generation, transportation, distribution and use of power. The theme has been the topic of two Days of Studies held by CEI in 2007 – thanks to the support by TERNA SpA and SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES – involving a large participation by technicians and engineers of the electrical sector. This Italian discovery, attributable mainly to Mr Vander Tumiatti of SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES and Dr. Fabio Scatiggio of TERNA SpA, has been subsequently shared at worldwide level, both within IEC and ASTM and IEEE and DOBLE.

During the next meeting of the CT10 of CEI (October 2011) the possible solutions shall be examined for introducing, at least at Italian level, limits for the content of DBDS in the insulating oils of electrical equipment in operation, in accordance with internatuional standard and publications.

The Regional Capacity Building Workshop on Best Available Techniques / Best Environmental Practices and Environmental Sound Management of POPs Wastes and PCBs for Asia”, has just taken place in Beijin from November 16 through 20.

The title of the event says a lot about the topics of the workshop, but for the general public, it is appropriate to add some information, emphasising the importance of the event and Sea Marconi’s role.

The meeting dealt with the state of the art of initiatives taken by the Countries represented about the management and decontamination of POPs (Persistent Organic Contaminants) and PCBs.

The Capacity Building Workshop in Beijin gathered 57 participants, among them:

– 29 delegates from 14 Countries of the Asian Continent (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Kiribati, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Sri Lanka e Thailand) – 28 personalities from inter-government organisations (e.g. Stockholm Convention, UNDP and UNIDO), non-government organisations (e.g. International POPs Elimination Network – IPEN), Universities, Research Centres and private companies like Sea Marconi. The population represented by the delegates is very impressive: about 2.6 billion people.

Vander Tumiatti, who participated last Summer to the Workshop organised by the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention in Nairobi has been invited to share his competency in favour of the Asian Continent as well.

Sea Marconi is confirmed being an international leader for the know-how accumulated and, in particular, for the decontamination of oils contaminated by PCBs.

To expand click here (Stockholm Convention website)

With reference to the prestigious invitation received by Vander Tumiatti (please read our news here below) on behalf of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), we are proud to add that, thanks to his intervention in Kenya Mr Tumiatti is part of the founding members of PEN (PCBs Elimination Network). This is the result of a voluntary initiative born last May at the Fourth Meeting of the Conference of Parts of the Stockholm Convention.

PEN as objective the Exchange of information to support the divulging of the obligations deriving from the Stockholm Convention on the management of PCBs in an environmentally friendly manner.

Consequently, the presence of Sea Marconi in this network is an additional confirmation of the involvement of the company and Vander Tumiatti himself, against PCBs and POPs.

We remind that the workshop held in Kenya from 15 through 19 June 2009, had as objective the dissemination among the Anglophone Countries of Africa of the Guidelines for the Best available techniques (BAT) and the Best Environmental Techniques (BAP) relative to the inventory, management, decontamination and/or disposal of Permanent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and PCBs.

The event provided very interesting perspectives for a “GreenPro – PCBs free Program”; Sea Marconi has all the distinctive features to be a protagonist in the struggle against PCBs and POPs in the entire African Continent. We are not adding further information at present, but we invite you to visit periodically our site to discover, in real time, the developments on this matter..

The competence by Sea Marconi on the topic of PCBs at international level received a prestigious confirmation: a few days ago, Vander Tumiatti received an invitation by Donald Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

In particular, the communication invites Tumiatti as international expert on the matter, to give a dissertation at the Workshop organised by the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention in cooperation with the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) Regional Office for Africa to be held in Nairobi (Kenya) from 15th through 19th June.

The event has the scope to divulge among the Anglophone Countries of Africa the Guidelines for the Best Available Techniques (BAT) and Best Environmental Practices (BAP) relative to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and PCBs.

We remind that:

• The Stockholm Convention (signed in 2001, in effect since 2004 with 150 participating Countries) has the objective to eliminate and reduce the use of some noxious substances for human health and for the environment, designated as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). POPs are chemical compounds with toxic properties that can be propagated in the air, water and ground that, due to their scarce degradability, reside in the environment for a long time. The Agreement indicates 12 main pollutants and three entire classes of compounds: polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo dioxins (PCDDs or more commonly called dioxins) and polychlorinated dibenzo furans (PCDFs).
• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was implemented in 1972 as an institutional organism to which the general scope of protecting the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources has been assigned, within the frame of the complex organisation system of the United Nations (Wikipedia).

For more info

• • Link to web site of Stockholm Convention
  • Link to news with details of the Workshop
  • Link to official site of UNEP