Норильск в
на английском языке.
Обидно, что из известных людей, чьи имена ассоциируются с Норильском, названы только два-три, о которых, впрочем, я до этого не знал. Может добавим Имена?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Norilsk (
Russian:
Нори́льск) is a major
city in
Krasnoyarsk Krai,
Russia, located between the
Yenisey river and the
Taymyr Peninsula. It was granted city status in 1953. It is the northernmost city in
Siberia and the world's second largest city (after
Murmansk) north of the
Arctic Circle. Norilsk with
Yakutsk and
Vorkuta are the only large cities in the
continuous permafrost zone. Norilsk is also the northernmost city on the planet with a population over 100,000. Population: 134,832 (
2002 Census);
[2] 174,673 (
1989 Census).
[3] MMC Norilsk Nickel, a
mining company, is the principal employer in the Norilsk area. The city is served by
Norilsk Alykel Airport and
Norilsk Valek Airfield. Due to the intense mining, the city is one of the ten most polluted cities in the world.
[4] [edit] History
The settlement of Norilsk was founded by the end of the 1920s; however, the official date of founding is traditionally set to 1935, when Norilsk was expanded as a settlement for the Norilsk mining-metallurgic complex and became the center of the
Norillag system of
GULAG labor camps. It was granted the status of
urban settlement in 1939.
Norilsk, located between the
West Siberian Plain and
Central Siberian Plateau at the foot of the 1,700-metre-high
Putoran Mountains, is situated on some of the largest
nickel deposits on
Earth. Consequently, mining and
smelting ore are the major industries. Norilsk is the center of a region where
nickel,
copper,
cobalt,
platinum,
palladium, and
coal are mined. Mineral deposits in the
Siberian Craton had been known for two centuries before Norilsk was founded, but mining began only in 1939, when the buried portions of the Norilsk-Talnakh intrusions were found beneath mountainous terrain.
Talnakh is the major mine/enrichment site now from where an enriched ore emulsion is pumped to Norilsk metallurgy plants.
To support the new city a
railway to the port of
Dudinka on the
Yenisei River was established, first as a narrow-gauge line (winter 1935-36), later as Russian Standard gauge (1520 mm) line (in the early 1940s).
[5] From the port of Dudinka enriched nickel and copper are transported to
Murmansk by sea then to the
Monchegorsk enrichment and smelting plant on the
Kola Peninsula, while more precious content goes up the river to
Krasnoyarsk. This transportation only takes place during the summer:
[citation needed] Dudinka port is closed and dismantled during spring's ice barrier floods of up to 20 m in late May (a typical spring occurrence on all Siberian rivers).
In the early 1950s,
another railway was under construction from the European coal city
Vorkuta via the
Salekhard/
Ob River, and Norilsk even got a spacious passenger train station built in the expectation of direct train service to Moscow,
[5] but construction stopped there after Stalin died.
According to the archives of Norillag, 16,806 prisoners died in Norilsk under the conditions of forced labor, starvation, and intense cold throughout the existence of the camp (1935-1956)
[1]. Fatalities were especially high during the war years of 1942-1944 when food supplies were particularly scarce. The prisoners organised a nonviolent revolt (
Norilsk uprising) in 1953. Unknown but significant numbers of prisoners continued to serve and die in the mines until around 1979. Norilsk-Talknakh continues to be a dangerous mine to work in: According to the mining company, there were 2.4 accidents per thousand workers in 2005.
In 2001, Norilsk was decreed a
closed city for foreigners (except citizens of
Belarus). This is likely because of the sensitive nature of the nickel-platinum-palladium-copper mining
[citation needed], and the
ICBM missile silos nestled in the Putoran Mountains nearby
[citation needed].
The city is also the nearest to the famous
Popigai crater.
The mosque of Norilsk, belonging to the local
Tatar community, is considered to be the northernmost Muslim prayer house in the world.
Demographic Evolution1939 | 1959 | 1962 | 1967 | 1970 | 1973 | 1976 |
---|
14 000 | 118 000 | 117 000 | 129 000 | 135 000 | 150 000 | 167 000 |
1979 | 1982 | 1989 | 1992 | 1998 | 2002 | 2005 |
---|
180 400 | 183 000 | 174 673 | 165 400 | 151 200 | 134 832 | 131 900 |
[edit] Norilsk-Talnakh nickel deposits
False-color satellite image of Norilsk and the surrounding area (
more information)
The nickel deposits of Norilsk-
Talnakh are the largest nickel-copper-palladium deposits in the world. The deposit was formed 250 million years ago during the eruption of the
Siberian Traps igneous province (STIP). The STIP erupted over one million cubic kilometres of lava, a large portion of it through a series of flat-lying lava conduits lying below Norilsk and the Talnakh Mountains.
The ore was formed when the erupting magma became saturated in
sulfur, forming globules of
pentlandite,
chalcopyrite, and other sulfides. These sulfides were then "washed" by the continuing torrent of erupting magma, and upgraded their tenor with
nickel,
copper,
platinum, and
palladium.
[6] The current resource known for these mineralised intrusion exceeds 1.8 billion tons.
[7] MMC Norilsk Nickel, headquartered in
Moscow, is the principal mining operator in Norilsk-Talnakh. The ore is mined underground via several shafts, and a
decline. The ore deposits are currently being extracted at more than 1,200 m below ground. The ore deposits are drilled from the surface. Nickel production for 2008 amounted to 299.7 thousand metric tonnes. Copper production for 2008 amounted to 419 thousand metric tonnes.
The deposits are being explored by a Russian Government-controlled company. The company is known to be using
electromagnetic field geophysics, with loops on surface which are over 1,000 m on a side. They are conclusively able to image the conductive nickel ore at depths in excess of 1,800 m.
[edit] Environment
Much of the surrounding areas are treeless
tundra.
[edit] Climate
Norilsk has an extremely harsh climate. Average temperature is approximately −10 degrees Celsius, and temperatures as low as −58 degrees have been recorded. The city is covered with snow for about 250-270 days a year, with snow storms for about 110-130 days. The polar night lasts from December through mid-January, so that Norilsk inhabitants do not see the sun at all for about six weeks.
[edit] Pollution
The nickel ore is smelted on site at Norilsk. The smelting is directly responsible for severe pollution, generally
acid rain and smog. By some estimates, 1 percent of the entire global emissions of
sulfur dioxide comes from this one city.
Heavy metal pollution near Norilsk is so severe that it is now economically feasible to mine the soil, as a result of acquiring high concentrations of platinum and palladium through pollution.
[8] The
Blacksmith Institute[4] included Norilsk in its 2007 list of the ten most polluted places on Earth. The list cites air pollution by particulates (including
radioisotopes strontium-90, and
caesium-137 and heavy metals
nickel,
copper,
cobalt,
lead and
selenium) and by gases (such as
nitrogen and
carbon oxides,
sulfur dioxide,
phenols and
hydrogen sulfide). The Institute estimates 4 million tons of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic, selenium and zinc are released into the air every year.
According to an April 2007 BBC News report,
[9] the company accepted responsibility for what had happened to the forests, but insisted they were taking action to cut the pollution. For the period up to 2015-2020 the company expects to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by approximately two-thirds, but admits it is hard to guarantee this pace of reduction because they are still developing the technology. According to CNN there is not a single living tree within 48 km of the nickel smelter
Nadezhda ("The Hope").
[10] [edit] People associated with Norilsk
[edit] Cultural references
Although not actually having been filmed in Norilsk, the city is depicted in the 1985 film
White Nights, starring
Mikhail Baryshnikov and
Gregory Hines. During the opening moments of the film, Baryshnikov's character, a
Soviet defector, is on a passenger plane that crash lands at "Norilsk Air Base."
Martin Amis' 2007 novel
House of Meetings takes place in part at a
Gulag labor camp based on Norilsk.