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Aug 2013 BACK ISSUE Built by prisoners of the Gulag (the Soviet government agency which oversaw the forced labour camps during the Stalin era), the industrial city of Norilsk is one of the most polluted cities on the planet.  The greatest environmental hazard to the population of the city and its surrounding areas is the Norilsk Nickel company -  the world's largest mining, and smelting metal plant which has its home in the city.  The Norilsk plant produces 35% of the world's palladium, 25% platinum, 20% nickel and 20% rhodium, 10% cobalt (in Russia, 96% nickel, 95% cobalt, 55% copper).  As a result of the metal industry, approximately 100 000 hectares of forest tundra surrounding the city is burned or is doomed to extinction and according to some environmentalists, Norilsk is a zone of ecological disaster.  Emissions of carbon dioxide from Norilsk make up 2% of the world's pollution. Life expectancy in Norilsk is 10 years less than the Russian average. by Sergey Maximishin Dead trees in the snow in front of apartment blocks in Norilsk. A view of a snow-covered playground and apartment blocks. People sit on a bus in the Kayerkan suburb of Norilsk. Badly maintained buildings in the Kayerkan suburb of Norilsk. People walk past a mural on a snow-covered street in the Talnakh suburb of Norilsk. Children walk on a large pipe in the snow. Young people travel on a bus. A man walks his dog in the snow near a mosque. Children pose for a picture at a nursery school in Norilsk. Workers in a lit tunnel at a copper plant. Giant buckets and fires to smelt copper at a plant in Norilsk. Workers smelt copper at a plant in Norilsk. A worker smokes a cigarette as he smelts copper. Workers wash themselves in the showers after a shift. A woman heads towards the Dolgoye lake to go swimming. Men swim in the river. Snow-covered playground. Sulphur dioxide is released from a copper plant near a snow-covered cemetery.