The following map inventories the most important industrial sites in the area of interest, together with a selection of important human activity sites. Some industrial centres located outside the regional investigation frame exist also in the general area.
(Map: P. de Caritat)
The city of Murmansk is the largest township (ca. 460,000 inhabitants) of the study area. The County of Murmansk, which includes all of the Kola Peninsula and covers all but a southernmost sliver of the Russian sector of the regional study area, has approximately 1.1 million inhabitants. The main industries of the region are fishery, mining and smelting (Nilsen & Bøhmer, 1994; see also Photo Gallery: Industry).
The Kola Peninsula sector is the area with the second largest SO2
emission north of the Arctic Circle, with a release to air of
600 million kg SO2 per year at the end of the 1980's,
surpassed only by
the Norilsk area (2200 million kg SO2 emitted per year)
(Tuovinen et al., 1993).
Dust, SO2, CO, NO2 and other
emissions from several industrial
sites in the Kola region were estimated by Kryuchkov (1993a). The Table below
lists some of the top SO2 emitters in the area (data from
Kryuchkov, 1993a; Sivertsen et al., 1993):
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SO2 emissions (in million kg)
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Monchegorsk (R): 196.2 (in 1991)
Nikel (R): 189.8 (in 1991)
Zapoljarniy (R): 67.6 (in 1991)
Apatity (R): 28.2 (in 1991)
Murmansk (R): 25.1 (in 1991)
Olenegorsk (R): 5.2 (in 1991)
Severomorsk (R): 5.1 (in 1991)
Kemi (F): 4.3 (in 1990)
Kandalaksha (R): 3.8 (in 1991)
Kovdor (R): 3.7 (in 1991)
Kirovsk (R): 3.2 (in 1991)
Kemijärvi (F): 1.1 (in 1990)
Kirkenes (N): 0.8 (1985-90)
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F: Finland; N: Norway; R: Russia
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It is estimated that cumulative, historical emissions of SO2 to the atmosphere amount to a staggering 6.5 million tonnes from 1960 to 1994 from the Monchegorsk smelter alone! Since 1971, sulphur-rich ore from Norilsk commonly has been smelted on the Kola Peninsula, thereby sharply increasing stress on the local environment. However, SO2 emissions from the Monchegorsk industrial centre have been declining between ca. 1983 and 1990 (Kryuchkov, 1993b).