The invited experts, representatives of the public, deputies of Norilsk and Taimyr, Nornickel’s representatives spoke about the process of eliminating the consequences of the accident at CHPP-3, the ecosystem restoration and traditional use of natural resources of the Taimyr indigenous peoples.
As the Nornickel’s senior vice president for sustainable development Andrey Bugrov said, the company, together with the interdepartmental commission specially created under the Ministry of Nature, which includes representatives of government, scientific, environmental organizations, prepared a comprehensive plan of measures aimed at eliminating the consequences of fuel spills and harm caused to the environment.
“We will return to work on the plan many times, this document requires additions, improvements, depending on the current situation. We are especially looking forward to the recommendations of the Big Norilsk Expedition, so that the plan is scientifically substantiated”, Andrey Bugrov emphasized. “The plan contains a large block of research work in which leading specialized scientific organizations participate. Throughout the entire period of work to eliminate the consequences, environmental monitoring of the components of the environment will be carried out: soil, water bodies’ surface, biological resources. The field stage of the work of the Big Norilsk Expedition (BNE) has already been completed. The purpose was to restore the systematic study of the region and the scale of changes in recent years, to develop proposals for the best environmentally friendly solutions for activities in the Arctic, and a model of new management”.
He also pointed out that cooperation with the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) is not limited to the BNE this year. It will be continued in order to work out the mechanism of management in the Arctic region, where environmental issues are the priority. In addition, Nornickel and the SB RAS signed a cooperation agreement.
The senior vice president of Nornickel said that a large amount of ethnographic research has also been carried out.
“The proposals that we receive from the representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North have been formulated in the company into an action plan to assist the socio-economic and cultural development of the territory”, noted Andrey Bugrov.
As for the work to prevent similar situations in the future, the Norilsk Nickel representative noted that the company has adopted a whole range of measures aimed at improving the level of industrial safety:
“Nornickel plans to replace or modernize the energy infrastructure facilities. Install safety barriers at fuel plants. Special attention will be paid to the study and systemic monitoring of the permafrost’s state”.
Text: Victor Tsaryov, Photo: Evgeny Zhukov
