Where is Norilsk? The CHILLING story behind the 'most depressing city in the world'
The world is a beautiful place and it doesn't fail to baffle us with its mesmerizing sceneries. But there are some places on Earth that will send a chill down your spine, simply because they are dark and extremely unwelcoming. One such place is a city called Norilsk which is situated in Russia. Let's take a look inside the place which is deemed the most depressing city in the world, and land where both, water and snow can turn blood red.
Norilsk, founded in 1935, is home to nearly 178,000 people and is a city located in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of Russia. The city is 300 kilometers north of the Arctic circle, and 2,400 kilometers from the north pole. Less than a 100-year-old, Norilsk is a distant land from the main world, or so it seems. Regarding connectivity, only one freight line runs in and out of the city. If you have to take a water route, then the port city of Dudinka, 40 miles away, provides a route to the city. However, the river is mainly frozen in winters so this is a temporary route. The town faces year-round ice and snow, averaging 9-degrees Celsius in summer and as low as -70-degrees in winter! During the seven months of winter here, the sun doesn’t even come up at all – meaning it is dark 24 hours of the day. Yes, there are no roads that lead to the city and access to the city is restricted to foreign tourists.
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Keen visitors can also visit via flying which might not seem like an easy task. The city, which doesn't want to be found, is reached after a five-hour-long flight from Moscow, followed by a not-so-beautiful landscape based on a Soviet prison camp. Moreover, the city didn't enjoy the luxury of proper Internet until 2017. Before that, they were surviving on a dodgy satellite link.
A brief history of Norilsk
It all started back in the 1840s when Alexander von Middendorff's expedition found the local coal deposits on this land, near the Putorana Mountains. Fast forward to the 1860s, the deposits were called Norilsk 1, hence the name. In 1936, USSR built a large extraction complex in the mountains using nearly 500,000 forced laborers. For almost 20 years, the laborers worked in permafrost which is not a suitable condition for work, resulting in almost 18,000 dying in horrible conditions. NBC reports that the city has its origins as a resource colony by prisoners in the Soviet Gulag. Norilsk outlasted communism, embraced capitalism, and its companies are involved in the sale of metals needed for electric vehicle batteries and ironically, the clean energy economy.
Today, Norilsk rests on the biggest copper-nickel palladium deposits on the planet. Moreover, a fifth of the world's nickel is from the city, and more than half of global palladium is used in car exhausts and jewelry. Today, almost everyone in the city is connected to this business, either they're working for Norlisk Nickel or some other company. While this provides employment and a good income source, it hasn't been too kind to the environment. Back in 2016, Russian authorities ordered an investigation into a possible pipeline break after a river in the nickel-producing Arctic city of Norilsk turned bright red. To give you a fair idea of how drowned the city is in toxins, it's the most polluted city in all of Russia and is one world's top 10 polluted cities. The plants release at least 2 million tons of toxic waste, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, phenols, and more.
Effect of toxins on Norilsk
Due to the toxic gas released by the extraction plans, the life expectancy and the environment are severely affected. It results in acid rain and the expectancy is just 59 years old, which is 10 years shorter than the Russian average. Moreover, the risk of cancer is also double as compared to any other city in Russia, reports The Sun. A health study found that rates of blood illness in children are 44 percent higher in Norilsk compared to an average child in Siberia, while rates of nervous system conditions are 38 percent higher, and bone and muscle illnesses are 28 percent higher.
Back in 2016, a nearby river called the Daldykan river turned red due to the alleged chemical waste. Even though there was no official statement from anyone whatsoever, many of the workers believed that it was a result of the toxic waste. Further, on June 3, 2020, a river outside Norilsk turned red due to a massive diesel spill. A corroded tank burst and released 6.5 million gallons of diesel fuel into waters that flow to the Kara Sea. It was the largest oil spill in Arctic history.
Safe from US sanctions during Russia-Ukraine war
Russian mining company MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC said in March that there was no material impact on its sales of palladium and nickel, despite the war in Ukraine heavily affecting platinum group metals and commodity markets more broadly. Nornickel is the main miner of palladium in Russia and accounts for roughly 40% of global supply of the precious metal, making it an integral part of the platinum group metal supply chain, reports Market Watch. Palladium and platinum are both used by automakers within catalysts, which are used to help combat greenhouse gas emissions within combustion engines. The company accounts for about 20% of global production of high-grade nickel, which is vital for electric vehicle batteries and one of the causes of Norilsk remaining polluted.