Antarctic Treaty Inspections 2005 - Antarctic Treaty Secretariat

One of the large (250,000 litre) bulk fuel tanks at Rocky Cove, North of Bellingshausen.
From the truck, fuel is pumped into four holding tanks 20 metres to the east of the
powerhouse, one of 50,000 litres, two of 20,000 litres, and one of 25,000 litres. These
appeared to be in good condition, and are elevated on concrete plinths contained within a
shallow 100mm bund. This was however penetrated by a 50mm open drain pipe. The
tanks are bottom-fed and connected through an adjacent pump house via underground
pipe to the 1,000 litre day tank in the powerhouse.
Power is supplied by two 125KvA diesel generators and one of 60KvA. A further 60KvA
standby generator is located in the emergency power house. There is no exhaust heat
recovery, emission treatment, or monitoring. Bellingshausen currently consumes around
122,000 litres of marine diesel every year in the powerhouse and vehicles.
The station is resupplied, generally by the M/V Akademik Fedorov, every 2-3 years.
Supplementary supplies of fresh food and priority items arrive by air through Marsh
station every two months from September to April.
Water is plentiful. It is drawn from a man-made dammed pond near the powerhouse, on
the meltstream that flows from Lake Kitezk, 500 metres northwest of the station. It is
heated in the generator building, and piped as required, usually weekly, to holding tanks
in the station buildings via a 100mm elevated steel pipe. Consumption is around 18,000
litres per week, averaging 100 litres per person/day.
Aside from fuels, oils and lubricants, the Inspection Team observed no significant
amounts of hazardous chemicals on the station, due largely to the previous
decommissioning or removal of laboratory facilities.
Transport and Communications
The station had numerous plant and vehicles including a small four-wheel-drive car, a
4-tonne crane, a large bulldozer (around Caterpillar D8 equivalent), two snow-mobiles, a
7-tonne backhoe, and several large multi-wheeled or tracked all-terrain vehicles. An 8-
seat mini-bus belonging to King Sejong Station and used by Korea for airfield transfer is
stored in the garage.
49