Environmental group Bellona, which has 57 employees, working at the main office in Oslo and three international offices in Brussels (Belgium – EU) Murmansk (Russia) and St. Petersburg (Russia) with websites in Norwegian, English and Russian published a study of the causes of a recent incident in Russian Norilsk.
A state of emergency was declared in Norilsk as a result of permafrost thawing. Several tons of diesel fuel leaked from the fuel tank at the TPP of Norilsk Energy Company No. 3 and leaked into the neighboring river on May 29.
The ecologists are confident that the reasons that helped the accident in Norilsk can continue to be the cause of other serious accidents.
Climate change affects the working conditions of industrial organizations, as well as the living conditions and safety of people and nature conservation, especially in the Arctic and permafrost regions, the ecologists says.
Russia’s Arctic regions are among the fastest warming areas in the world.
The temperature on Earth over the past few decades has been growing, on average, by 0.18 degrees Celsius (nearly one-third of a degree Fahrenheit) every 10 years. But in Russia it increases by 0.47 degrees Celsius (0.85 degrees Fahrenheit) and in the Russian Arctic, by 0.69 degrees Celsius (1.24 degrees Fahrenheit) every decade, according to Moscow-based Main Geophysical Observatory.
The increasing temperatures in Siberia have been linked to prolonged wildfires that grow more severe every year and the thawing of the permafrost a huge problem because buildings and pipelines are built on them. Thawing permafrost also releases more heat-trapping gas and dries out the soil, which increases wildfires. The World Meteorological Organization said that it’s looking to verify the temperature reading, which would be unprecedented for the region north of the Arctic Circle.
Degradation of near-surface permafrost can pose a serious threat to the utilization of natural resources, and to the sustainable development of Arctic communities.
Degradation of permafrost has already been related to damage to thousands of infrastructure components and negative ecosystem impacts across the Arctic. Detrimental effects on engineered structures, socio-economic activities, and natural systems can, therefore, all be expected throughout the permafrost domain under climate warming, particularly in high-risk areas with substantial urban and industrial centres such as Vorkuta and Novyi Urengoy in hot spots of infrastructure hazard in the Russian Arctic, writes a magazine Nature.
Arctic natural and anthropogenic systems are undergoing unprecedented changes, with permafrost thaw as one of the most striking impacts in the terrestrial cryosphere. In addition to the potential adverse effects on global climate, ecosystems, and human health, warming and thaw of near-surface permafrost may impair critical infrastructure. This could pose a serious threat to the utilization of natural resources, and to the sustainable development of Arctic communities. There is an urgent need for pan-Arctic geohazard mapping at high spatial resolution and an assessment of how changes in circumpolar permafrost conditions could affect infrastructure.
The ecologists are sure that it is important to carry out further work of specialists, today, in this situation, it is necessary to involve scientists and conduct scientific research both of the consequences of the accident and the overall environmental situation in the Arctic.
The purpose of scientific research is to develop recommendations for the formation of new approaches to economic activities in the Arctic zones to minimize the impact on the environment and eliminate the consequences of previously carried out activities in the Arctic. It is hoped that the experience, knowledge, interest and independent view of the invited scientists will provide a concrete objective picture with scientific substantiation of the current state of both the affected territories and the Arctic ecosystem as a whole.
The Arctic has long been awaiting in such scientific research, and it is hoped that this time the results of the Expedition’s research will become public and it will be possible to see a real assessment of what happened and is happening in this region. This work is still very important in terms of the development of the Arctic and the study of its coast. The results of the research are planned to be announced in December in Moscow, Russia.
Earlier, the Russian “Norilsk Nickel”, a major global producer of nickel and palladium, announced plans to complete the creation of its own monitoring system for permafrost, buildings and structures in the Arctic. The company noted that at present there is no ready-made system for such monitoring, so it is still difficult to estimate its cost.
The manufacturer emphasized that the company intends to use its own resources and, if necessary, the capabilities of Russian scientific organizations in the implementation of the project; at this stage, it is not planned to attract foreign specialists.
In addition, Norilsk Nickel has already developed a program of urgent measures for 2020–2021 to improve the level of safety and strengthen protective structures around hazardous facilities. It is planned to spend about 2.5 billion rubles ($ 35 million) for these purposes in 2020, and about 11 billion rubles ($ 141 million) next year.
An ethnological survey has also begun to assess the damage done to the indigenous peoples of the north by the fuel spill in Norilsk. The commission includes representatives of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, scientists from Moscow State University, Northern (Arctic) Federal University, the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Miklouho-Maclay.