Pollution and Atmosphere in Post-Soviet Russia

Chapter 11. Tracks across the Tundra: Making a Living from Nature in the Borderland of the Russian Northwest

“…Worst of all were conditions inside the plant, where workers were exposed to incredible amounts of heat, dust, and smoke on a daily basis. 20 Since sulfur dioxide is straightforward and relatively inexpensive to measure by an automatic air monitoring station, and metallurgical dust can be sampled from fresh snow and put through standard mineralogical analysis, the Pechenga Nickel controversy produced publishable science-based alarmism in line with anti-Russian sentiments held by many in Scandinavia and thus became a recurring item in local and sometimes national news. This was seldom combined in the media with attempts to ponder the differences between Norway, with a strong state economy based on taxation of its oil and gas export and political traditions of environmentalism, with the Soviet focus on production goals followed by the turmoil of the 1990s and raw oligarch capitalism.…”

Multiscalar entanglements in the post-socialist city: monotown restructuring, spatial re-ordering and urban inequality in Russia

“…The Finns established a nickel factory in Nikel (called Kolosjoki in Finnish), but this production was interrupted by the Second World War. After the war, the area came under the sovereignty of the Soviet Union, and the plant was rebuilt and production restarted (Rowe 2020b). 6 Production was soon expanded, due to the vast occurrence of nickel and other metals in the region (cobalt, gold, palladium), and thus the construction of the city of Zapolyarny was initiated in the mid-1950s.…”

“…13. Finnish and Swedish consultants were involved in providing Nornickel with suggestions on how to modernize the production and reduce environmental hazards (Rowe 2020b). 14.…”