#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The project won first place in the international climate competition Green Eurasia, the prestigious federal award in the field of corporate innovations GenerationS Innovation Award (GIA) and was highly appreciated at the International Competition BRICS Solution Awards. Today, Nornickel is the only company in the country where both background and geotechnical monitoring are carried out simultaneously.
In early October, as part of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Yerevan, the award ceremony for the winners and finalists of the second international climate competition Green Eurasia was held by the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and the ANO Strategic Initiatives Agency to Promote New Projects (ASI).
In total, more than 300 practices from 12 countries were submitted to the competition. The winners and finalists in 15 different categories were 57 best climate practices, including the Background Permafrost Monitoring System for the Nornickel Responsibility Territory in the category Climate Adaptation: Monitoring and Forecasting Climate Change.
At the end of October, the names of the winners of the annual federal award in the field of corporate innovations, GenerationS Innovation Award (GIA), were announced in Moscow. This is the first award in Russia that provides an opportunity to highlight the most outstanding achievements of Russian companies in the field of innovation and technology transfer and evaluate the innovative activities of corporations.
A total of 538 applications were received from all over the country to participate in the award. 42 projects from 23 organizations successfully passed the expert selection. Nornickel’s practice, implemented in partnership with Polar State University named after N.M. Fedorovsky, was unanimously recognized as the best in the Cooperation of Science and Business category.
The joint practice of Nornickel and the PSU was also highly appreciated within the International BRICS Solutions Awards. The organizers were the ANO Strategic Initiatives Agency, the ANO National Technological Initiative Platform, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia. The competition was held in eight nominations, with 1343 projects from 15 countries taking part. The award ceremony took place during the BRICS Business Forum at the Moscow world trade center.
The awards received prove that Nornickel is at the forefront of climate practice, and the N.M. Fedorovsky Polar State University has once again confirmed that it is the leading scientific center of the Arctic.
“The background monitoring system is an extremely important story! Nornickel’s task is to study how stable their facilities are on permafrost. The risks of climate change are very strong in the region where Nornickel operates. And of course, the company is making great efforts to adapt to climate change. In general, monitoring hazardous factors of climate processes and climate risk factors is a crucial thingfor all Russian companies. Formation and implementation of such a system is the first step to understanding and managing climate risks. In this sense, Nornickel can set a good example”, said Alexander Chernokulsky, deputy director of the A. M. Obuhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Oleg Zhdaneyev, advisor to the director general of the Russian Energy Agency (REA) of the Ministry of Energy of Russia, head of the Competence Center for Technological Development of the Russia Energy Ministry’s Fuel and Energy Complex, agrees with him.
“If we look at the potential damage associated with the splitting of permafrost between soils, then for municipal facilities alone we estimated it for the period up to 2050 at seven trillion rubles. For fuel and energy complex facilities, this is much more. That is, in this regard, the background monitoring system is one of the cornerstones for the sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex of the Russian Federation as a whole. Especially considering that more than two-thirds of Russia’s territory is now occupied by permafrost soils”, says the director.
Work on creating monitoring systems began relatively recently, but is already bearing fruit.
“The systematic establishment of a monitoring network at the legislative level began not long ago. To date, 78 observation wells have been drilled under the auspices of Roshydromet enterprises and organizations, mainly to a depth of 20-25 meters. A total of 140 such wells are expected. And in Nornickel, there are 28 wells, eight of which are 200 meters deep, which is a truly unique story. It seems to me that the contribution of a private manufacturing company that is engaged in organizing this type of monitoring, essentially integrating into the state monitoring system, is extremely important. I think this is the key reason why Nornickel unconditionally won first place in the Green Eurasia competition”, notes Boris Porfiryev, scientific director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Economic Forecasting Institute.
Norilsk University is characterized by a variety of geological and permafrost conditions, and the soil temperature can be both positive and negative. Recently, the problem of global temperature increase in the Arctic and permafrost degradation has become a priority for Nornickel.
Over the past four years, Nornickel has changed its approach to monitoring buildings and structures on permafrost. A unique digital platform has been created – the information and diagnostic system of the Polar Division. It stores and processes data on the condition of the company’s facilities: monitoring the temperature of permafrost soils of the buildings and structures’ foundations, the deformation behavior of foundations’ building structures, as well as the temperature and humidity conditions in technical undergrounds.
Monitoring makes it possible to operate Nornickel’s industrial facilities without incident, and in the future, the city’s residential infrastructure. It helps identify potentially dangerous defects and deviations that lead to damage to buildings and structures or their individual elements. A two-level system of criterion values for diagnostic indicators of the structures’ condition has also been developed: warning and emergency. This system allows for early diagnosis of the cause and the adoption of technical measures to ensure their sustainability.
Currently, 225 buildings and structures are equipped with special sensors that respond to changes in the monitored parameters. 347 new observation wells have been drilled, and more than 1800 sensors of various types have been installed. Readings from the devices are sent to the Unified control center of the building and structure monitoring center in real time. This creates a unique database.
The second stage of the system is being implemented in parallel: hydraulic structures of the Polar Division (tailings storage facilities). It is planned to connect about 1500 objects to the global information and diagnostic monitoring system, including pumping stations and electrical substations that are infrastructurally significant for the company, as well as linear objects: pipelines for various purposes, pressure hydraulic transport, railways, bridges, gas pipelines. It is envisaged to connect new objects under construction to the system.
It should be added that the Nornickel’s Polar Division has been actively working on the issue of global climate change and its impact on permafrost degradation for several years. For example, in 2022, wells 200 meters deep were drilled within the boundaries of populated areas of the Norilsk Division’s responsibility to study the temperature regime and assess the impact of global climate change. For the latter, a deep well in the center of Norilsk was restored, which has temperature measurement data dating back to 1959.
“Starting in 2023, a program was launched in Russia to create a state system for background permafrost monitoring. It is extensive and consists of several stages”, says Pavel Kotov, chief manager of the Department of Scientific and Technical Support for the Operation of Buildings and Structures in the Far North of the Nornickel’s Polar Division, director of the Research Center for Construction Technologies and Monitoring of Buildings and Structures of the Arctic at N.M. Fedorovsky PSU.
Using mathematical models, it is possible to forecast changes in permafrost conditions at the sites until 2050. In this way, Nornickel will be able to answer questions about how the climate in the area will change and what scenarios should be used for forecasts.
“Since it is important for us to ensure safety during the construction of the company’s facilities, we choose the most critical scenario. It consists in the fact that we forecast an increase in temperatures to 0.05 degrees per year. Further studies of permafrost will show how the situation will develop in reality”, added Pavel Kotov.
“Climate policy is an integral part of the overall economic development strategy. It is important that decisions in the field of climate policy contribute to the growth of the Russian economy and welfare in the country. Projects implemented by large companies, including Nornickel, also work in this direction. On the one hand, companies are interested in the overall economy in the country developing. This is both an increase in demand and an increase in opportunities. On the other hand, companies are interested in having their contribution to achieving national and global goals to reduce anthropogenic impact on climate assessed and taken into account. This is how a clear dialogue between the state and business is formed”, summarizes Alexander Shirov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Economic Forecasting Institute.
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Text: Maria Sanina, Photo: Nornickel’s Polar Division, Nikolay Shchipko
