Thomas Nilsen

Murmansk eyes sharp raise in hazardous nuclear waste management

Atomflot calls for a tender for a pre-study of a new complex for reloading and handling spent nuclear fuel from Russia’s new generations of maritime reactors used onboard icebreakers and floating nuclear power plants in the Arctic.
September 13, 2022

Tankers day celebrated in Pechenga despite reports of massive new war losses

An unconfirmed Ukrainian military source claims that up to 250 soldiers from the Northern Fleet’s 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade in Pechenga are killed in the latest counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region.
September 11, 2022

Murmansk to get sanctions-free shopping flight to Minsk

Belarus is becoming a popular vacation destination for people from the Russian north as sanctions limit the possibilities to travel to Western neighbors.
September 11, 2022

Russians facing stricter visa rules for Schengen countries

A growing number of Russians are crossing the border to Norway in the north for shopping and transfer to other destinations via the airport in Kirkenes. But it is likely not lasting for long as the European Union makes it more troubled to obtain a Schengen-visa.
September 08, 2022

Summer 2022 was warmest on record for Svalbard

WARMING PLANET: New temperature records are the new normal for summers at the Arctic archipelago halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole.
September 02, 2022

Norway prolongs coal mining at Svalbard until 2025

Production will continue for two more years than previously decided.
September 02, 2022

30 years of Arctic oil cooperation is over

Norwegian Equinor on Friday confirmed it has exited all joint ventures in Russia, including the onshore oil-field Kharyaga on the tundra in Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
September 02, 2022

Back to school: At least 1,274 Murmansk kids have fathers fighting, dead or injured in Ukraine

Indoctrination, flag raising ceremony, patriotic lessons, no social media access and two free hot meals to pupils whose fathers are dead, injured or still fighting in Russia’s war on Ukraine. The start of the school year in Murmansk will be different than before.
September 01, 2022

Construction of second Arctic floating nuclear power plant is underway

Three years after “Akademik Lomonosov” started to produce electricity for the remote Siberian community of Pevek, the first of four in a new generation of up-scaled floating nuclear power plants for the Arctic is now officially under construction at a yard in China.
August 30, 2022

This reactor will power the world’s largest icebreaker

Two milestones for Russia’s first icebreaker of the giant Leader-class are reached in August: The first reactor pressure vessel is ready and contract for metal to the bow is signed.
August 30, 2022

Pages

Thomas Nilsen is editor of the Independent Barents Observer with its news desk located in Kirkenes, northern Norway. He has a long experience in media cooperation across the borders in the high north of Europe, both as radio- and newspaper reporter all the way back to the days before the breakup of the Soviet Union. 

Nilsen has been editor of Barents Observer since 2009.

He was Deputy Head of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat from 2004-2009. Until 2003, he worked 12 years for the Bellona Foundation’s Russian study group, focusing on nuclear safety issues and general environmental challenges in northern areas and the Arctic. 

Thomas has been traveling extensively across northern Scandinavia and Arctic Russia since the late 80’s working for different media and organizations. He is also a guide at sea and in remote locations in the Russian north for various groups and regularly lectures on security issues, environmental and socio-economic development.

Thomas Nilsen studied at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Mobile: +47-90573143

thomas@thebarentsobserver.com
@nilsen.thomas