Norilsk

Founded in 1935 as a Siberian slave labour camp, Norilsk is located 300 km north of the Arctic Circle, at the heart of a region where nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium, and coal are mined. It remains a ‘closed’ city with access to foreigners strictly controlled.
Home to the world's largest heavy metal smelting complex, Norilsk is acknowledged as the most polluted city in Russia and one of the worst in the world, with nickel smelting being particularly damaging.
An estimated 4 million tons of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic, selenium and zinc are released into the air every year. Local mortality from respiratory ailments is particularly high.
In 2017, Norilsk produced 1.798 million tons of carbon pollutants.

Approx area depicted: 1,500 km2
Date of image: 2020