Around 18.000 tons of scrap metal will be removed from the Arctic in 2012 by Russia. The country is cleaning up the Arctic and hundreds of millions of rubles will be injected to the program.
The Arctic Islands of Russia are full of junk, causing environmental hazards. This year the program will focus on Svalbard and Amderma.
Amderma is planned to become a key site in the development of offshore oil and gas fields in the western part of the Russian Arctic and an important base for traffic along the Northern Sea Route.
A staggering 114.000 tons of local scrap stockpiles are thought to be in Amderma.
Over 1800 empty fuel barrels were transported from Wrangel Island to Arkhangelsk last year. That is only a drop in the bucket since 250,000 barrels holding some 40 to 60,000 tons of oil products are still in the area.
Other kinds of waste include abounded aircrafts, rusty broken radar stations, different kind of Arctic vehicles and other leftover garbage.
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