Almost 500 buildings to be demolished in Novaya Zemlya
About 500 old buildings will be demolished at the Central Nuclear Testing Site in Novaya Zemlya, said Colonel Dmitry Kozlov from the Russian Defense Ministry's 12th Main Directorate responsible for nuclear munitions.
"We have plans to tear down and recycle 426 buildings, collect and remove over 20,000 metric tons of scrap metal, hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of trash and to reclaim almost a dozen hectares of contaminated area," Kozlov told RIA Novosti.
About 30 metric tons of demolition charges and explosives were sent to the site last year to bring the buildings down, he noted. Over 100 soldiers have joined an environmental cleanup-unit, after training in Sergiyev Posad and at the mine disposal center of the Russian Armed Forces.
"In 2016, we'll remove 2,000 metric tons of scrap metal from the site, reclaim 11.5 hectares of land and demolish 149 buildings and other structures," he added.