Anyone witnessing an oil spill, chemical release or maritime security incident should call the NRC hotline at 1-800-424-8802.

Important definitions-

DISCHARGE- Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping of oil. For purposes of the NCP, discharge also means substantial threat of discharge.

RELEASE-Release means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant), but excludes:

(1) Any release which results in exposure to persons solely within a workplace, with respect to a claim which such persons may assert against the employer of such persons;

(2) Emissions from the engine exhaust of a motor vehicle, rolling stock, aircraft, vessel, or pipeline pumping station engine;

(3) Release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, if such release is subject to requirements with respect to financial protection established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under section 170 of such Act, or for the purposes of section 104 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act or any other response action, any release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from any processing site designated under section 102(a)(1) or 302(a) of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978; and

(4) The normal application of fertilizer;