Norilsk’s ecological disaster is just the beginning: the melting frost will mean endless suffering for the Siberian industry

Within days of the disaster, when tens of thousands of tons of diesel fuel flowed from the reservoir to the Arctic River and turned it into a disgusting red liquid, the mining giant to which the reservoir belonged presented its own version of events.

“Special attention is paid to the analysis of the risk of deposition of permafrost, especially under dangerous structures,” said representatives of the Russian mining company Norilsk Nickel.

A few days later, Norilsk Nickel’s boss repeated this statement.

“It is very possible that the integrity of the soil has been damaged by the merger processes,” Sergei Dichenko told Rossia 24 state television channel on June 4.

On June 5, the country’s chief investigator ordered a “comprehensive inspection of oil tanks across the country” to avoid a repeat of such incidents. Particular attention should be paid to structures located in areas at risk of permafrost.

Oil spill, which amounts to almost 20 thousand. tons – one of the largest in Russian rivers, say environmental groups. The fact that the reservoir was missing due to melting permafrost can become a very picturesque illustration of what awaits Russia’s ancient industrial infrastructure in the Arctic.

Norilsk is one of Russia’s arctic cities at the forefront of the climate change front. Others, such as Vorkuta, Tiks, Magadan and Murmansk, are also suffering infrastructure damage, drastic population declines, underinvestment in infrastructure, weary isolation from what locals call “dominant Russia”, and where there is hope that the Soviet monomers ever do. Although it will change, the deficiency.

In essence, Norilsk is a perfect illustration of all the problems affecting the Russian Arctic. The city is located in an extremely valuable region with the world’s largest nickel and palladium reserves, and is also rich in copper, cobalt, platinum and carbon. The city is oppressed by the legacy of the gulags dating back to the 1930s. Norilsk is also a “closed city”, another reality from Soviet times. At the time, dozens of cities were considered strategic because of their military bases or other major industrial facilities. Such closure is practically impossible today, as the only company in the city, Norilsk Nickel, was privatized in 1997.

Shrinkable Glaciers

According to nationalinterest.org, climate change is particularly dangerous for Russia, where up to two-thirds of the country’s territory is permafrost. It’s a top-of-the-line frost that won’t relax even during the hottest Arctic summers.

First of all, the benefits. Contraction of the glaciers of platform 24 thousand. kilometers will make the Arctic coast more accessible for trade. Ships from East Asia will be able to reach Europe much faster. In addition, more land will go to farmers who want to work on it, which means that Russia will be able to increase food production and exports.

Unfortunately, the other side of the process is much worse, and is particularly damaging to the environment. Melting permafrost can cause changes in the soil, such as subsidence and displacement processes. This threatens virtually everything from oil tanks and pipes from old plants to residential buildings that were once built on reliable frozen land that no longer exists.

“In times of global warming, this is a more common problem in the Arctic,” Greenpeace of Russia said when the true scale of the Norilsk oil spill became apparent.

“Permafrost has changed for many years, not only in Russia, but also in Canada and the Scandinavian countries. Only a few cared. And few people, even now, talk about it out loud,” says Alexander Fedorov, deputy director from the permafrost in Melnikov, Yakirsk, Siberia, adding that it is difficult to say exactly what happened to the oil spill in Norilsk.

With regard to industrial infrastructure such as “gas pipeline, oil pipeline, factories and workshops”, much of it has been built in ecological areas of current risk, “emphasizes Fedorov.

Emergencies

The incident, which took place about 180,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow. The scale of the populated city of Norilsk was confirmed by the reaction of the Kremlin.

Hundreds of engineers and emergency management specialists have been dispatched to the region to treat the environment surrounding the effects of the ecological disaster. On the Ambarnaya River, specialists installed floating dams to prevent pollutants from reaching the lake and, ultimately, the Kara Sea. However, on June 9, the pollutants reached a lake about 20 kilometers from the city of Norilsk. According to the head of the Russian Environmental Protection Agency, damage to the environment could reach billions of rubles. Several criminal investigations were launched and four people responsible for the maintenance of the fuel tanks were arrested.

Further evidence of dissatisfaction with the Kremlin was received on June 7, when Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the management of mining during a video conference.

“Why did the state authorities find out just two days after the fact? Do we need to learn about such emergencies on social media? Asked the Russian President.

Putin criticized Norilsk Nickel holding company president Vladimir Potanin for not replacing the broken tank with a new one earlier. Potanin is one of the richest people in Russia, and the greatest wealth comes from Norilsk nickel.

“If it had been replaced in time, it would not have caused so much damage to nature, and the company would not have to pay for the cleaning of its own pocket,” Putin told Potanin, who had promised hundreds of millions of rubles for the crisis.

Soviet legacy

During the Soviet era, Central Committee planners invested heavily in infrastructure in Siberia and the Arctic, building entire cities that had to carry out significant economic activities such as mining or oil and gas extraction.

The collapse of the Soviet Union slowly killed dozens of so-called mononomists, as the country’s government stopped subsidizing them and the local population had to look elsewhere for work.

The ruling regime and life changed, but most of the industrial infrastructure at the time remained there: highways, railroads, telecommunications, and power lines, and pipes that only the United States had in length.

Another major problem was that Soviet builders built residential and non-residential buildings on stilts buried deep in the permafrost. Now that permafrost is gradually melting, causing more or less damage to structures.

For example, in Yakutsk, where around 310 thousand live. People, over a thousand buildings are named as at risk because the melting of permafrost weakens the foundations, the buildings sit. This problem is particularly acute in the Norilsk areas, where the climate is most likely to heat up in all the arctic regions of Russia. In May, the heat weakened the premises as necessary.

“The damage and risks posed by melting permafrost will undoubtedly only increase. That is what we expect,” says Guido Grosse, a researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany.