Spitsbergen International Scientific Center to Host Up to 100 Scientists Initially

MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. The International Scientific and Educational Center in Spitsbergen will be able to accommodate up to 100 scientists at the initial stage, the Arktikugol State Trust Company's CEO Ildar Neverov said.

"Given our current preparatory activities, we can easily accommodate up to 100 scientists," he said. "In case of an increased demand for our center, of course, we will be able to host more residents of the international scientific and educational center."

The center's infrastructure has been created and is being finalized now, he continued. "The infrastructure for this center exists already, it will be finalized by October, everything from catering for our resident scientists to their accommodation and logistics in the archipelago, which is very important," he explained.

A Russian scientific center on Spitsbergen, has been working in Barentsburg since 2014, he said. It features 14 scientific organizations. Scientists there are working in glaciology, meteorology, archaeology, geology and biology. The new international center will expand scientific directions. For example, foreign scientists have demonstrated interest in polar medicine and research in human health in high latitudes. "We can see that requests from foreign specialists, in particular Chinese ones, are mostly in polar medicine and high-tech solutions in human health," he said.

Besides that, scientists will study psychophysical features of people living in the polar day and polar night conditions. "People are interested in studying psychophysics of processes in a community located at high latitudes, in people who live during a polar day and a polar night in such a closed community, in completely comfortable and safe conditions for human life and health," the company's CEO added.

The project to create the international center goes in line with the company's plans to diversify activities, he continued. At the same time, Arktikugol will act as the project's unified logistics operator. The company has received numerous requests from foreign counterparts for organization of scientific work. "The Trust, being a single logistics operator of this international scientific and educational center, receives a big number of requests for organization and assistance in carrying out certain scientific work from all over the world, be that China or counterparts from Turkey or from a number of European countries," he said.

Arktikugol's representative highlighted special attention paid to the safety of researchers. According to him, scientists will not be allowed to stay on their own, without an escort, outside the villages. "For example, I wouldn't hide it, an important block of issues we are addressing is ensuring the safety of scientists, because, as you well know, more than 4,000 polar bears live on the Spitsbergen archipelago, and slightly less than 3,000 people. It is impossible for a scientist to stay outside the village on his own without appropriate escort, including an armed one. But the company can provide all resources to ensure that work runs in a safe environment," he said.

Russia's operations on Spitsbergen continue for more than 90 years. The Arktikugol State Trust Company, founded in 1931, continues working on the archipelago providing for Russia's presence in Barentsburg and Piramida. It produces 120,000 tons of coal per year. The company owns an area of 251 square kilometers.