KRASNOYARSK, October 11. /TASS/. Emissions into the atmosphere in the Krasnoyarsk Region's Norilsk backtracked by 21,000 tons, the region's Minister of Ecology Vladimir Chasovitin told local legislators.

In October, 2023, the Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) launched the first stage of its flagship project - Sulfur Program - at the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant. The company was implementing the project despite the legal opportunity to shift the due dates to 2026 as the state's support measure in response to foreign economic sanctions and restrictions. The second line is due to be commissioned in autumn.

"Norilsk has managed to date to cut emissions by 221,000 tons, which is 11.8% of the comprehensive plan [to cut emissions under the Clean Air federal project]. The company [Norilsk Nickel] declares the plan will be completed on time," the minister said, adding under the comprehensive plan, the company is to cut emissions in Norilsk by 900,000 tons (45%) against the emissions registered in 2017.

The company told TASS that the emissions reduction was due to the Sulfur Program's launched first line at the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant. According to the company, the line's efficiency is higher than planned - it reaches 99.6%. "This is a city where historically, since Soviet times, have got accumulated many environmental problems. At the same time, it is there that the country's largest environmental project is being implemented. By launching just the first line of the program, we have cut sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 200,000 tons. And we are looking forward to launching the second and third lines - already next year due to them the emission will be less by several hundred thousand tons. The company's declared effect of 900,000 tons is an unprecedented result, which both environmentalists and legislators eye as a breakthrough in Russia's industrial development history. For Norilsk, for the Krasnoyarsk Region, this will be a new stage known by a significant improvement in life quality," the regional parliament's Deputy Speaker Dmitry Sviridov told reporters.

The Clean Air federal project under the Ecology national project was launched in 2019. Its participants are Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Mednogorsk, Nizhny Tagil, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Cherepovets and Chita. Another 29 cities, mainly in Siberia and in the Far East, joined the project after September 1, 2023. By the end of 2030, the participating cities will have to halve emissions of hazardous substances into the air against the level of emissions registered in 2020. To achieve the goal, enterprises must be upgraded. The federal budget allocates 17.5 billion rubles ($180 million) for the program's three years.

About Sulfur Program

The Sulfur Program's technologies are assumed to capture at least 99% of sulfur dioxide at the main smelting units, where they will be used, and they take into account peculiarities of the Norilsk Industrial District's' ore base, the used pyrometallurgical processes, as well Norilsk's logistical limitations (a lack of external railway, a limited navigation period on the Yenisei River, the inter-navigation period where only air traffic is possible, and the Northern Sea Route's logistics). Sulfuric acid from sulfur dioxide will be further neutralized by limestone to produce gypsum.

Norilsk is a polar city in the Krasnoyarsk Region's north. The population is 176,000 people (the region's second most populous city). The Norilsk Nickel Company's Polar Division is the city-forming enterprise. Norilsk produces about 20% of the world's high-grade nickel. Norilsk Nickel is a diversified mining and metallurgical company, the world's largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel.