The Svanvik monitoring station in Pasvikdalen in East Finnmark is located about 40 km south of Kirkenes and just over a kilometer from the Russian border. The reason NILU conducts measurements here is due to the large emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and heavy metals from the smelter in the town of Nikel in Russia. Although the smelter has now been shut down, the measurements of heavy metals in the air and precipitation continue.
The bedrock in the North Calotte is rich in metals and minerals, and there are many different mines and smelters in Northern Sweden, Finnish Lapland, Finnmark, and on the Kola Peninsula.
The area east of the Pasvik River was Finnish from 1920 until World War II, called Petsamo. It was the Finns who first discovered nickel in the area.
In the 1930s, a smelter was established, and when the area became part of the Soviet Union after the war, the plant was rebuilt. In the 1990s, the plant was privatized and became part of the Kola Mining Company (Kolskaja GMK), a subsidiary of the Norilsk Nickel combine. Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium and also a major producer of copper, platinum, and other valuable metals.
There are several mines in the area, both open-pit and underground. The ore from the local mines is first transported to Zapoljarnij. Zapoljarnij is near Norway but slightly further east than Nikel. In Zapoljarnij, ore briquettes are made. Previously, the briquettes were brought to the smelter in Nikel. However, on December 23, 2020, the plant in Nikel was shut down, and now the ore briquettes are sent directly to Montsjegorsk. Montsjegorsk is located about 130 km south of Murmansk.
Until 2020, emissions from the briquetting plant in Zapoljarnij and the smelter in Nikel significantly affected air quality in the border areas between Norway and Russia. These emissions have now been significantly reduced, which is good news for local air quality in the border areas and for the environment.
Monitoring since 1974
NILU has been monitoring in the border areas since 1974. The monitoring are funded by Norwegian authorities (the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Ministry of Climate and Environment). Svanvik is therefore one of NILU’s oldest monitoring stations. The monitoring station is located in a field at NIBIO Svanhovd, just 1 km from the Russian border and 8 km from the town of Nikel.
Today, NILU monitors inorganic components in precipitation, heavy metals in air and precipitation, and ozone (O3) in the air at Svanvik. In addition, NILU conducts long-term measurements of (SO2) at Viksjøfjell.
Publication of monitoring from Svanvik
Ozone monitoring from Svanvik are continuously published on NILU’s portal “Air quality monitoring data“.
The results are published in annual reports: Monitoring of environmental contaminants in air and precipitation.
The last monitoring report from the Norway-Russia project (2022).