The initial visits of polite negotiations are completed, the contracts are signed. Now it's about technical work, getting the job done. That's the fun part, at least for me.
I've had two full working days with our Russians partner in Murmansk, working hands on, by the computer, processing and analyzing geophysical data. Most of the time things flow nice and easy. But sometimes we get stuck in language problems. The guy I work with most of the time is technically very skilled, but he has a limited English vocabulary.
Sometimes he needs to call for another guy (or two) to help with the translation. And sometimes I get caught in a verbal crossfire, between two (or more) guys yelling at each other in Russian. It's kind of funny, and I'm just sitting there in the middle, smiling, and waiting for things to be sorted out.
Yesterday even the General Director came by. We shook hands and said hello, and nice to see you again. It's fun to meet him, because he looks just like Breczhnev, a living flashback from Soviet times.
Today I'm going back home. I checked out of the hotel this morning. I stayed in the Pi-room, room 3.14 (I'm a math fan, so I couldn't avoid noticing). The driver took me to the airport; the same route back, through the wilderness.
ABout 50 km (30 miles) before the border, we passed through the town of Nikel, first founded as a slave labor camp by Stalin.
It's probably the most polluted place on the planet.
The Kola Peninsula is very rich in minerals. There are mining settlements all over the place. In the 1930s, the worlds largest reserves of nickel were discovered, and the settlement was simply called Nikel. Today the population is about 15.000, and they all make a living form the nickel plant and the nearby mines.
The nickel plant releases huge amounts of nickel oxides and sulphur dioxide into the air. The population has big health problems, in particular respiratory deceases, and reduced life expectancy. The woods and the mountains are completely black and dead around the town. In the winter, the snow is black (the driver told me).
I can tell you, it looks really bad, like the backyard of Hell. The owner of the plant, Russian mining giant Norilsk, isn't doing much about it. Nikel is in the middle of nowhere and at the end of the world, so who cares?
I took this picture from the car when we passed by Nikel. We didn't stop, the driver didn't want to. The town is to the left and the nickel plant to the right in the picture.
