Nornickel Backs Efforts to Revive Russian Permafrost Studies

Russian metals producer Nornickel continues backing efforts to revive studies of permafrost, an area of continuously frozen soil, which covers a significant part of Russia, including the world's northernmost city of Norilsk, home to many of the company's operations.

The second scientific and technical conference "Experience and prospects for the construction of buildings and structures on permafrost soils" at the Norilsk Industrial Institute (NII) gathered scientists and business officials, represented by Nornickel managers.

Zhanna Petukhova, director of NII's Research Center for Construction Technologies and Monitoring of Buildings and Structures in the Arctic, thanked Nornickel for promptly "packing" the research center's permafrost laboratory with equipment.

The head of the laboratory, Mikhail Elesin, has already tested the equipment during a unique expedition to the islands of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. Professor Elesin briefed the participants and guests of the forum on the actual geophysical research in the archipelagos in a separate speech.

Nornickel's Polar Division Deputy Chief Engineer Anton Pryamitsky, who oversees the company's large-scale project to monitor the state of industrial buildings and structures at Polar Division facilities, noted that the satellite monitoring programme of Russian space agency Roscosmos might join the project.

The geotechnical monitoring system, launched in Norilsk in the summer of 2021, was launched into pilot operation late last year and almost immediately showed its effectiveness. At the first stage, the system has already covered 165 facilities. Before the launch, comprehensive surveys were carried out at all facilities to determine their condition and draw up design schemes. All readings from the equipment on the main parameters of the facilities' safety end up in a database in the system's control room in real time.

Pryamitsky knows all the participants of the scientific and technical forum. With many of them, the Polar Division "has interacted, is interacting and will continue to interact."

Dmitry Sergeev, the head of the geocryology laboratory of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geoecology Institute, briefed the conference on the developments on substantiation of indicators and analysis of geocryological monitoring data.

Before flying to Norilsk, the scientist made a presentation on this topic for Nornickel's engineering team, and in the northern city, he wanted to understand what is a priority in the territory today, what tasks should be addressed first.

"Science cannot and should not stew in its own juice," Sergeev said.

Mikhail Korolev, the head of the Laboratory of Geomechanics and the deputy director of the Institute of Applied Mechanics, who has repeatedly advised Norilsk enterprises on permafrost soils, presented a report "Promising methods for determining the mechanical characteristics of permafrost soils."

NII rector Dmitry Dubrov hopes that the conference would become regular and contribute to the training of local permafrost experts and to the second stage of construction in Norilsk, which is impossible without scientific support.