#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Polar State University’s students began the implementation of a new project on alternative energy sources by diving under water.
The swims were required as the original eco-project’s part. LamaLocation is a joint project of the Polar State University and the United Directorate of Taimyr Reserves. It became one of the Nornickel’s charity program’s World of New Opportunities winners. Eco-volunteer divers clean the waters of the Norilo-Pyasinsky basin from fishing nets and garbage within the project.
“We have many supporters and partners: from the Norilsknickelremont production workers to the Norilsk professional diver community Nord Diving Club. The movement is constantly replenished with new participants; we are helped by equipment, knowledge and opportunities. We study alternative energy sources at our LamaLocation base: solar, wind and thermal generation. The opportunity to get electricity far from civilization, on lake Lama for recharging gadgets and some equipment, according to our idea, will become available to all people on the territory”, says the LamaLocation eco-project’s head Oleg Pilyugin.
Simultaneously with the study of alternative energy, the project activists will dive on the Lama, clean the shores from garbage and old nets. This work is already being carried out by the Norilsk diving club’s members: participants say that scuba diving could radically change divers’ worldview and attitude to life.
The project’s successful implementation required complete young people’s immersion into the project and under water. The Norilsk diving club’s head Evgeny Babich teaches the children this difficult but fascinating business. Classes are held on the club’s base: a former rock quarry filled with water.
The divers cleaned up the territory, equipped the shore and the reservoir’s bottom with obsolete equipment, furniture, and even seated a mannequin there next to the old refrigerator in order to meet the certification standards. Now everyone is told that they have a water fairy there.
Two of the most desperate were selected from eight University’s students to make their first dive in this foray into the reservoir.
Considerable time was spent on the students’ theoretical training. The instructor Yevgeny Babich was listened attentively: the diver talked about the basic diving rules and introduced the guys to the mandatory requirements for safety and behavior under water.
The opportunity to consolidate the acquired knowledge presented itself immediately. Two daredevils set off on their first dive accompanied by an instructor after putting on a wetsuit and carefully adjusting gear and equipment. The rest were actively rooting for their classmates on the shore trying to put themselves in their place and assess their capabilities.
The first lesson is the skills’ development and the application of theory in practice. Diving skills are the certification credits’ elements. The students did not succeed in everything at the first lesson, Yevgeny Babich warned about this. The instructor also spoke about a possible fright on the water with wrong actions, and his predictions came true: one of the students forgot all the instructions immediately, the dive went wrong, the young man panicked, and the instructor had to help him personally.
“This reaction is typical for most cases. Unknown environment, cold water, frightening depth and unfamiliar equipment, which you use for the first time, evoke a normal natural feeling of fear. As we say: “The novice’s frightened eyes and the instructor’s satisfied look indicate that everything is going according to a plan”, jokes Evgeny Babich.
The students’ training will continue, the first daredevils will be followed by the rest. Students’ expeditions to lake Lama are planned for the near future within the LamaLocation project. The organizers expect to hold five or six trips during the summer.
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