The Russian Arctic is slowly but surely warming up—climate change in the polar region is being felt far more keenly than in other parts of our country. The rate of temperature increase is 3.7 times the global average, which is +4 degrees in the last 30 years. Communications, infrastructure and housing inevitably suffer because they were built in a completely different 'climatic reality.'

Some of the buildings are threatening to fall into total disrepair decades ahead of schedule and need to be saved urgently. Science and high technology are coming to the rescue of the utilities.

House freeze programme

Norilsk became a city in 1953. At that time, the builders could not have imagined that in just 60 years, the 'permafrost' would de facto cease to exist. Thawing of the ground beneath residential buildings during the summer causes damage to the integrity of the buildings and then leads to their collapse. To avoid having to build another Norilsk in the foreseeable future, it was decided to carry out ground stabilisation at the emergency buildings.

The first project was implemented in Talnakh under two nine-storey buildings back in 2019. Then it turned out that at a depth of 30 m below the buildings, the temperature was above zero. It was an extremely unpleasant discovery that required a quick solution. And it was found! To greatly simplify the description of the technology, it is a piping system around the foundation piles of a building. A cooling agent circulates through them, freezing the ground back into place, which returns its load-bearing characteristics.

Of course, you don't always have to drill very deep wells, but on average you still have to bury the pipes 12 to 18 m deep. Ivan Glukhov, head of the Norilsk construction and installation department at Fondamentstroyarkos LLC, told Komsomolskaya Pravda that the refrigerant works by converting from liquid to gaseous state during circulation. This technology extends the life of a house for another 30 years, at least that is what builders assume after observing the programme. In total, more than RUB 3 bn is planned to be spent from 2022 to 2035 on the thermal stabilisation of the foundations of residential buildings in Norilsk. By comparison, saving three houses in Talnakh in 2022 required an investment of RUB 358 mn.

Expensive because it is hard to understand

Looking at the complex and costly technology used to stabilise buildings in Norilsk, the suspicion arises that these actions are dictated by dire need in the face of inadequate science. And it really is. All modern Arctic cities built on 'permafrost' were built in an era when climate change in the polar region was not on the agenda at all. The classic scheme was as follows: the foundations of the building are sunk to a depth of at least a metre into the permafrost. On the sides, it is backfilled with nonfrost-susceptible soil and the ground floor is placed on piles above the ground. In this way, an air gap is created between the permafrost and the building, preventing heat exchange with the house. In the past, this technology has shown results for self-strengthening—the ground beneath the building froze even more, increasingly tightly gripping the piles. According to the architects of that time, it was more than enough for a peaceful life for centuries to come—who knew that the average annual temperature would rise by 3.6°C by now?

Today we have to look for an urgent solution to the situation. Norilsk, with its relatively abundant resources, can afford both to save 'sinking' houses and to try to build new ones using modern technology. In 2023, it is a programme of the Ministry of Construction of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which will try high-tech approaches on 4 houses of 3,000 sq m in an attempt to cope with the ground falling out from under them. At the same time, new methods will be used to save the old housing stock. This year, builders will try soil injection—a mixture of super-fluid low-viscosity resins and micro-cement will be injected under the foundations of one house to create a stabilising layer. This, too, is not cheap—the project is estimated at RUB 81 mn. If all goes well, the technology will be replicated.

Of course, the situation is not the same in all regions. In some places, piles can be installed on rock, which significantly increases the strength of the structures; in other places, the warming is not felt as disastrously. But we must not delay—global warming may bring many more surprises. This is what the permafrost monitoring system in Russia was set up for. It will collect statistical data, which is particularly important for long-term projects (and the city can be called that).

The plan is to establish 140 long-term observation points and to tackle the challenging task of developing new forecasting methods. There is also a lot to be spent on the package of measures, about RUB 1.7 bn.