RIA Novosti

Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment plans to continue reversing accumulated environmental damage in the Arctic. For example, as much as 18,000 tons of scrap metal will be shipped from the port of Amderma, Deputy Minister Rinat Gizatullin told a news conference, Environmental Results of 2011, at RIA Novosti.

The first accumulated damage reversal projects were launched in 2011, he said. In particular, an expedition surveyed Franz Josef Land and a clean-up on Wrangel Island began, with 1,500 discarded oil drums shipped away as a result.

“This is the first evacuation of any debris whatsoever from the northern territories,” he said.
In 2012, a similar effort will be launched on Spitsbergen and at the port of Amderma, Nenets Autonomous Area, which is likely to see between 12,000 and 18,000 tons of scrap metal shipped away, he said. According to preliminary estimates, the total polluted area around Amderma exceeds 82 square kilometers and the local scrap stockpiles may amount to 114,300 tons.

All Russian environmental organizations will focus on Arctic oil production hazards in 2012, which was declared the Year of the Arctic by WWF Russia, environmentalists reported on Tuesday.

“We will act jointly on the issue of oil drilling in the Arctic, because this is a major problem,” Ivan Blokov of Greenpeace Russia told a RIA Novosti news conference. “Imagine a disaster similar to the one we saw in the Gulf of Mexico. Considering what can happen to offshore oil rigs and overland oil pipelines, we can expect any surprises.”

He also cited Roshydromet statistics indicating that northern rivers carry into the Arctic Ocean nearly 500,000 tons of oil and oil products each year.

SpetsStroi Co. is ready to build in the Arctic should it receive such contracts, Director Grigory Naginsky told journalists on Friday.

“SpetsStroi is more prepared than any other company to handle construction in the Arctic,” he said. “We have the northernmost operations. We have unloaded steel frames on Samoilovsky Island. Next summer, we will build a polar station there and hand it over to scientists.”No decisions  have been made to date to build infrastructure facilities for military brigades planned for deployment  in the Arctic, Naginsky said.

“So far, we have been working on existing infrastructure, barracks and water pipelines. We have the workforce to perform the task if we are hired,” he said.

Discarded oil drums could be used to mark trekking paths in the Arctic to protect the soil from vehicles, Non-Profit Partnership for the Coordination of the Northern Sea Route Use Executive Director Vladimir Mikhailichenko said.

Many Arctic territories, such as Spitsbergen or Greenland, stress the importance on tundra traffic regulation, he said, adding that Russia should follow in Greenland's footsteps and use discarded fuel and lubricant drums to mark trekking paths.

Such efforts would put to good use some of the debris left in the Arctic. Stone-filled drums separated by cabling could be placed along trekking paths to form a border for keeping caterpillar traffic inside and preventing vehicles from ruining the soil.  

A census of Russian polar bears could cost up to $60 million, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russia said on Wednesday.
The Russian Arctic is estimated to be home to about 5,000 white bears or about a quarter of the worldwide polar bear population and the animal is ranked an endangered species in Russia.

Scientists group them into three or four major populations.

"A polar bear count is an immensely expensive project for which specialists from even richer Western countries sometimes lack funds. At least $10-15 million is needed to assess the number of bears in one population in the Russian Arctic, and there are four of them," said Mikhail Stishov, a WWF Russia coordinator for Arctic conservation projects.

Five years ago, WWF Russia launched the "Bear Patrol" program, under which groups of local residents patrol and prevent poaching in known polar bear habitats.

The research and expedition vessel Mikhail Somov has returned to Arkhangelsk after its last Arctic voyage of the current navigation season, said the press service of the Northern Inter-Regional Territorial Board for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Sevhydromet).

On Sunday, the Mikhail Somov docked at the Arkhangelsk-based port of Bakaritsa  at 4:00 a.m. Moscow time.

“The trip lasted just over a month. The vessel sailed from Arkhangelsk to Dikson and back. Vitally important consignments were delivered to 18 meteorological stations on the coast and islands of the White and Barents Seas and to some stations in the Kara Sea. About 700 tons of general cargo, including fuel, food, clothing, tools, instruments and construction materials, have been delivered to meteorologists,” the press service said.

This Friday, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov is to chair a meeting of a government commission to examine a draft strategy of Russia’s presence on the Svalbard archipelago up to 2020, a source from Zubkov’s staff said .

Developed by the Russian Foreign Ministry,   the project is expected to play a key role in coordinating efforts to safeguard Russia’s interests in the region, the source added.

Commission members will also discuss the Russian Navy’s efforts to create and maintain   security for Russia's economic maritime activities around Svalbard.

The Russian naval operations   are aimed at providing a favorable environment for conducting economic activity in Russia's marine waters.

Anthropogenic mercury emissions reaching the Arctic from various parts of the world are endangering the region’s indigenous population, says a report prepared by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) Working Group.

Scientists estimate that mercury concentrations accumulating inside animals at the top of the food chain, including some fish, marine bird and large marine mammal species, threaten the health of the indigenous peoples of the North .

This is a serious threat to the health of indigenous peoples for whom hunting and fishing are an inalienable part of their traditional lifestyle, the report adds .

Sovcomflot, Russia's largest shipping company, on Thursday posted a 52.4 percent decline in its net profit in January-September 2011, year on year, to $45.731 million to IFRS, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

The company's revenue increased 8 percent in the first nine months of 2011 to $1.076 billion, while its operating profit fell 21.3 percent in the first nine months of this year to $155.571 million.

The company's time-charter equivalent amounted to $697.330 million, a 3.5 percent decrease year-on-year.
In November, Sovcomflot General Director Sergei Frank said that in 2011 the company expected to get a net profit to IFRS, despite the crisis in the world tanker sector. Last year, Sovcomflot's net profit stood at $164.3 million.

The company was included in a $33-billion privatization plan for 2011-2013, which stipulated the sale of shares in the country's top 10 companies. The government intended to privatize 25 percent minus one share in Sovcomflot in December 2011, another 25 percent in 2012 and decrease its stake below control in 2014-2015 but had to postpone the start of the privatization until 2013 due to unfavorable market conditions.

Sovcomflot operated 157 vessels with a total deadweight of 11.7 million tons as of June 30, 2011.

The Moscow Region’s Mechanical Engineering Plant, which is part of the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy’s TVEL fuel company, started making cores for two reactors of the nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal, TVEL reports.  

“Currently, the Mechanical Engineering Plant produces fuel elements for nuclear reactors. After that, it will start producing fuel assemblies,” the report says.

In March 2012, the finished products will be sent for testing to the Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering in Nizhny Novgorod. At the final stage, the products will be accepted by the Russian Maritime Register.

“In all, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal will receive two fuel supplies, in June and September 2012,” the report says.

In 2011, the plant also produced cores for a floating nuclear power plant. Currently, the fuel is being stored at the Mechanical Engineering Plant and will be shipped when the wharf is prepared for loading.