Kola Peninsula

Geographical location

Kola (Finnish Kuola, Sami Guoládatnjárga ) is a peninsula in Fennoscandia. Politically it belongs to Russia in the Murmansk Oblast (northern edge of the European part of the country ). The peninsula on the northern edge of the White Sea is inhabited by Russians and by seeds. As a border with the rest of the mainland can be seen, the line between the end of Kandalakscha Bay, the Imandra Lake and the Kola Bay. The mountains of Chibinen, the Lovozero Tundra and Keiwy - highlands are centered on the peninsula. The northern coast of the peninsula is also called Murmansk.

Climate

The climate of the peninsula is heterogeneous: in the north, due to the heating by warm ocean currents, subarctic. Halfway through the peninsula towards increasingly continental, temperate cold. Mean January-February temperatures from -11 to -8 ° C in the north and from -15 to -13 ° C in the center. In July, according to 8 to 11 ° C and 12 to 14 ° C. The country is between October and Soon ( in the mountains and June) covered with snow.

Water World

The Kola Peninsula is of several - flows through rivers - sometimes raging: the longest river is Ponoi, the most water - Tuloma. In addition to call are: Warsuga, Kola, Iokanga, Teriberka, Woronja, Umba. As rich peninsula is in lakes; the largest are Imandra, Umbosero and Lovozero. The waters are rich in fish such as Atlantic salmon, trout, grayling, pike, Coregonus and others. In the surrounding seas are plentiful cod, plaice, halibut, capelin, herring, crab, Kombu.

Mineral resources

Kola is rich in mineral resources. In the towns of Nikel and Monchegorsk nickel is promoted, for example, in a big way, in other places, iron ore and other heavy metals, apatite and nepheline ores, jewelery and gemstones.

This has meant that, can be found on almost all levels of Kola pollution of intact arctic tundra to schwermetallvergifteten post-industrial landscapes of overburden. The ores are usually smelted in integrated plants on site, which sometimes leads to extreme air pollution. The power supplies to the Kola nuclear power plant ( four pressurized water reactors VVER -440 ), which was built during the Soviet era on the peninsula.

From 1970, here called the Kola borehole was conducted in 1994 to a depth of 12,262 meters, making up today holds the world record for the deepest hole.

Military use

The peninsula is home to numerous military installations of the Northern Fleet, in particular bases for nuclear submarines.

In the Andreeva Bay beginning of the 1980s was a nuclear waste dump for low-level radioactive nuclear waste as a temporary (imaginary period: 5 years) set up. 2007 camped about 21,000 spent fuel rods from reactors of Soviet submarines. Norway, which already mustered 12.5 million euros to secure the dilapidated halls, calls for a comprehensive restructuring of the halls and the introduction of the fuel rods in a safe repository. The reactors themselves (more than 30 ) are in a warehouse in the Sajda Bay.