MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. The Clean Arctic public project's team removed an old heating main in the village of Barentsburg, the capital of the Russian presence in the Spitsbergen archipelago. The cleanup will continue to June 12 in the villages of Piramida and Grumant, the project's press service said.

"The first works have taken place in Barentsburg. The volunteers have dismantled an old heating main, which operated from 1974 to 2008. It used to supply water from a local lake to the village. Almost twenty years ago, modern engineering networks were laid here, and the old facility got abandoned," the press service said.

The volunteers got to the archipelago onboard the Professor Molchanov scientific expedition vessel. The team is 15 people from across the country, as well as volunteers from the Arktikugol State Trust Company, which turns 95 this year.

Since the Soviet development of the Spitsbergen Archipelago, there has been a lot of accumulated environmental damage - cable routes, heating mains, and old pipes. The archipelago's nature is so fragile that using mechanical cleaning methods and heavy machinery is out of question and thus the cleaning is carried out manually.

"For 95 years, the trust company has been mainly engaged in coal mining and tourism, and now we are diversifying our activities to have scientific and educational projects develop here, to improve the commercial component in maritime transport, and to attract more tourists. For this, we need to clean up our villages, remove the accumulated environmental damage, and involve in the economy new areas and territories. For example, right now a cleanup mission is working on the so-called upper tanks of the heating main. We plan to equip there a sports paintball club," the press service quoted Arctikugol's CEO Ildar Neverov as saying.

The team plans missions also in the villages of Piramida and Grumant in the near future. "Of course, we won't be able to clean the entire archipelago in one go, but our great task is to draw attention to the fact that the Arctic requires attention and cleaning. Our mission demonstrates a responsible attitude towards the northern territories," the Clean Arctic project's leader Andrey Nagibin said.

About the project

The Clean Arctic Public Environmental Project has been cleaning the northern territories since 2021. Waste removal is a complex technological work, where the movement teams work carefully minding the Arctic nature. Over all seasons, the project's 9,923volunteers have collected 22,045 tons of waste and cleaned 1,101 hectares of land. The project's general partner is the Rosatom State Corporation, and TASS is the general information partner.