Norilsk

The most northerly city in the world:

From a gallery at English Russia.

Also one of the most polluted:

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 global emissions of sulfur dioxide comes from there. Heavy metal pollution near Norilsk is so severe that mining the surface soil is now economically feasible as a result of acquiring high concentrations of platinum and palladium through pollution.

The Blacksmith Institute 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 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 four million tons of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic, selenium, and zinc are released into the air every year.

The Russian Federal State Statistics Service named Norilsk the most polluted city in Russia. In 2010, Norilsk produced 1.924 million tons of carbon pollutants, compared to a distant 333 thousand tons of pollutants generated by Russia's second most polluted city Cherepovets.

It's not exactly a tourist destination - non-Russians need special authorisation to visit - but some people still make the effort.

Previously.

 

Comments

[brian]

I'm very impressed with GM's travels. Much of Siberia looks like a concrete-strewn wasteland and somehow I think he's done it so we won't have to. I also liked the oddity of a zebra thrown in there (No. 54):

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1439013&highlight=

[Mick H]

Yes, exactly. I'm never going to Norilsk or any of the other delightful Siberian cities he's visited, but thanks to him I can get a pretty good idea of what they're really like.

[NicoleS]

Not all Siberian cities are as ghastly as Norilsk. Believe it or not, some are quite delightful in parts and there is too much of Siberia for even the Soviets to have wrecked. GM clearly has no interest in picture postcard views, nor does he seem to have had any nice weather but he is a sharp observer. Love his photos.