Atomic in the Crimea. Crimean NPP. A history of major mismanagement. Crimean NPP will be completed

This abandoned facility is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive nuclear reactor in the world. which was never built.
The construction of the Crimean nuclear power plant began in 1975, and it was supposed to provide electricity to the entire Crimea. In 1984, it was even declared the All-Union Komsomol construction site. In the midst of construction, two (!!!) echelons of building materials were mastered per day.
But in 1987, a famous fur animal settled in these places. There are two reasons - the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the unfavorable economic situation in the USSR. The readiness of the station at that time was almost 80% ...
More detailed information I will give at the end of the post, after the pictures. In the meantime, look what is happening with one of the biggest unfinished buildings of the USSR today

2. We drive up to the station. Administrative building and observation tower

3. Broken bricks and crumbs of concrete everywhere. In the background - the first power unit and the engineering building

4. Engineering building of the station. Satellite dishes hint that there are people here

5. And here we have the first power unit. There is also a unique giant crane. Only he no longer builds the station, but destroys it.
Here I want to stop a little. The fact is that during the construction of the reactor building of the first power unit, a unique polar crane, the Danish Kroll K-10000, was already installed. With the help of this crane, further lifting and transport and construction and installation operations were to be carried out inside the reactor compartment. It was the tallest crane in Europe. In 2003, the State Property Fund sold it for ... 310 thousand hryvnias with a starting price of 440. Even if it was scrapped, it would have cost more.
Prior to its dismantling, the high-rise crane was used for base jumping. The jumps were carried out from the lower (80 m) and upper (120 m) booms of the crane.
Today, a similar crane is installed here, but smaller in size for dismantling the station. You can estimate its size against the backdrop of a standing "nine".

6. And that's what this station is for today ... A powerful technique that looks like a toy against the background of a concrete monster crumbles its body, extracting metal fittings from there. We will return here, but for now we will go to the reactor room.

7. We enter the power unit. The scale and thickness of the walls with shutters is impressive

8. Transport corridor of the power unit

9. Entrance to the reactor zone. Arm-thin metal.

10. There, thick cables go inside the reactor and cutting sounds are heard. There's metal being cut out

11. The reactor control panels are at the end

12. And there was the reactor itself... We look at it from the lower corridor. The ends of the cooling pipes are visible

13. A bolt found here. Obviously not from a children's designer. Surprised almost complete absence corrosion over so many years - only an oxidized surface

14. Let's go back to the faucet.

15. Cabin

16. Rollers. Under each pair - a narrow gauge railway

17. Pipes are cut like sausage. Only not on the table, but on the metal

18. One of the pipes was adapted for a change house

19. There are many techniques. She's in demand

20. But this junk has been standing here for a long time

21. Cylinders here are like replaceable batteries in a TV remote control

22. Destroyed external transition from the engineering building to the power unit

23. What remains after the work of "metalworkers"

24. Shock built, shock break

25. It is somewhat reminiscent of the chimneys of stoves in the Belarusian villages burned by the Nazis.

28. Panorama of the site under the engineering building. Everything is cut here

29. Panorama of the metal cutting site

Some information from Wikipedia:
By the time the construction of the station was stopped, 500 million Soviet rubles were spent on the construction of the nuclear power plant in 1984 prices. Approximately another 250 million rubles worth of materials remained in the warehouses. The station began to be slowly pulled apart for ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal. There is evidence that surveys were carried out in the early 1990s, the purpose of which was to "adjust" additional geological justification for the closure of the Crimean NPP. However, this was only a formal reason - by the end of the 80s, the situation in the economy of the USSR worsened so much that almost all major construction projects were curtailed, both in the energy sector and in industry, transport, and urban planning.
From 1995 to 1999, discos of the Republic of KaZantip festival were held in the turbine department.
In 1998-2000, the subsidiary Vostochno-Krymskaya energy company» sold the property of the station for UAH 2.204 million. By February 1, 2003, only a special building, a block of workshops, a reactor department and an oil-diesel facility remained on the balance sheet of the Eastern Crimean Energy Company.

In 2004, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine transferred the Crimean NPP from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy to the Council of Ministers of Crimea. Further, the Crimean Council of Ministers was to sell the received property of the nuclear power plant, and the money was to be used to solve the social and economic problems of the Leninsky district of Crimea, and in particular the city of Shchelkino.
After that, the remaining parts of the Crimean NPP were to be sold: the reactor compartment, the block pumping station, the workshop building, the cooler at the Aktash reservoir, the dam of the Aktash reservoir, the supply channel with the water intake reservoir, the oil-diesel facilities of the station, diesel generator station. Further, it is known that in early 2005 the Representative Office of the Crimean Property Fund sold the reactor section of the Crimean NPP for UAH 1.1 million ($207,000) legal entity, whose name has not been revealed.
There is evidence that the VVER-1000 reactor, which was never installed in the room prepared for it, was cut into scrap in 2005
The nuclear power plant was filmed in many films, of which the most famous was filmed there in 2007 "Inhabited Island" by F. Bondarchuk
Nuclear fuel was not imported here, so the nuclear power plant does not pose a radiation hazard.

A little-known fact: the station has an almost complete twin - an abandoned unfinished nuclear power plant Stendal, 100 km west of Berlin in Germany, was built according to the same Soviet project from 1982 to 1990. By the time the construction was stopped, the readiness of the first power unit was 85%. Its only significant difference from the Crimean NPP is the use of cooling towers for cooling, and not reservoirs. At present, the Stendal nuclear power plant (2010) has already been almost completely dismantled. A pulp and paper mill now operates on the territory of the former station, the cooling towers were dismantled in 1994 and 1999. With the help of excavators and heavy construction equipment, the disassembly of the reactor shops is being completed.

My previous photo essays:

80%, the second - 18%).

Crimean NPP

The country	the USSR the USSR→Russia /Ukraine
Location	Crimea, Shchelkino
Status	unfinished
Construction start year
Commissioning	planned in
Main characteristics
Electric power, MW	0 (project - 4,000)
Equipment characteristics
Main fuel	U 235
Number of power units	2 (under construction) 4 (planned)
Power units under construction	0
Type of reactors	VVER-1000
Operating reactors	0
closed reactors	4
On the map

Media files at Wikimedia Commons

Construction history

The first design surveys were carried out in 1968. Construction started in 1975. The station was supposed to provide electricity to the entire Crimean peninsula, as well as create a reserve for the subsequent development of the region's industry - metallurgical, machine-building, chemical. The design capacity of the Crimean NPP is 2 GW (2 power units of 1 GW each) with the possibility of subsequent capacity increase up to 4 GW, - standard project provides for the placement of 4 power units with VVER-1000/320 reactors at the plant site.

In November 1980, the construction of the nuclear power plant was declared the Republican shock Komsomol construction site, and on January 26, 1984, the All-Union shock construction site. After the construction of the satellite town Shchelkino, the embankment of the reservoir and auxiliary facilities, the construction of the nuclear power plant itself began in 1982. From the Kerch branch railway a temporary line was laid, and at the height of construction, two echelons of building materials a day arrived along it. In general, construction proceeded without significant deviations from the schedule with the planned launch of the 1st power unit in 1989.

A unique polar crane has already been delivered to the reactor building of the first power unit and installed at the design site.

With the help of this crane, further lifting and transport and construction and installation operations inside the reactor compartment were to be carried out:

during the NPP construction period: operations for the movement and storage of equipment (parts of the reactor, steam generator housings, pressure compensator, main circulation pipelines and pumps, etc.), and then their installation at the design sites.
after the start-up of the station: to carry out transport and technological and repair work maintenance of a nuclear reactor.

According to the director of the Rosenergoatom concern, the construction of a new nuclear power plant on the peninsula is futile, and energy can be generated by wind, solar and non-nuclear thermal power plants. It is impossible to restore it from the current state of the Crimean NPP site. It also used the project of the 1960s, while now the construction of nuclear power plants is carried out according to the projects of the 2000s. It may be more economical to build a completely new nuclear power plant than to restore an old one, but architectural projects for nuclear power plants of small and medium capacity is currently not available. On the other hand, nuclear power plants, especially in the context of ongoing attempts by the Ukrainian authorities to block Crimea economically, would reliably provide Crimea with energy autonomy.

In February 2016, it was announced that a new industrial park would be set up at the construction site of the nuclear power plant. The State Council of the Republic of Crimea for Property and Land Relations agreed with the local Ministry of Property to write off the unfinished Crimean Nuclear Power Plant “by demolition” from the balance sheet. At the same time, the building materials received as a result of the dismantling of the facility are planned to be used for the construction of a transport passage through the Kerch Strait.

The Crimean NPP was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as world's most expensive nuclear reactor [ ] . This is due to the fact that, unlike the Tatarskaya NPP and the Bashkir NPP of the same type that were shut down at the same time, it had a higher degree of readiness at the time of the construction stoppage.
In 1986, an experimental (the first in the USSR) solar power plant SES-5 was built nearby. Near it, on the eastern part of the shore of the Aktash reservoir, there is also an experimental wind power plant Yuzhenergo and eight old non-working experimental wind turbines installed back in Soviet time. Not far from it is East Crimean wind farm, consisting of 15 wind turbines with a capacity of 100 kW and two with a capacity of 600 kW each.
The nuclear power plant has an almost complete "twin" - the abandoned unfinished Stendal nuclear power plant 100 km west of Berlin in Germany, built according to the same Soviet project from 1982 to 1990. By the time construction was stopped, the readiness of the first power unit of the Stendal NPP was 85%. Its only significant difference from the Crimean NPP is the use of cooling towers for cooling, and not reservoirs. By 2010, the Stendal nuclear power plant was almost completely dismantled. A pulp and paper mill was opened on the territory of the former nuclear power plant, and the cooling towers were dismantled in 1994 and 1999. With the help of excavators and heavy construction equipment, the disassembly of the reactor shops is being completed.
The nuclear power plant was filmed in many films, of which the most famous was filmed there in 2007 "Inhabited Island" by F. Bondarchuk ( photo of the station in the frame of the film (indefinite) (unavailable link). Archived from the original on September 29, 2015.).

Information about power units

power unit	Type of reactors	Power		Start construction	Network connection	Commissioning	closure
power unit	Type of reactors	Clean	Gross	Start construction	Network connection	Commissioning	closure
Crimea-1	VVER-1000/320	950 MW	1000 MW	01.12.1982
Crimea-2	VVER-1000/320	950 MW	1000 MW	1983	Construction stopped on 01/01/1989
Crimea-3	VVER-1000/320	950 MW	1000 MW	Construction has not started
Crimea-4	VVER-1000/320	950 MW	1000 MW	Construction has not started

Notes

This geographical feature is located on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula, most of which is an object

The Crimean NPP is the most expensive unfinished nuclear reactor in the world. For the sake of servicing the power plant, a whole city was erected on the Kerch Peninsula -. An associated infrastructure was created. Experts were invited from all over Soviet Union. Less than a year was not enough to start the reactor, then Crimea would be able to provide itself with electricity on its own.
There is little left of the Crimean nuclear power plant now. A vast area of abandoned and dilapidated buildings. The remains of the workshops are densely covered with grass and trees. Things that had even the slightest value were dug up, torn out and taken out. The nuclear reactor, the lining of the mine and the control panel of the nuclear power plant were cut into non-ferrous metal. And if precious metals and equipment were taken away in the first place, today you can profit only from iron in concrete slabs.

A hundred meters from the reactor shop, several people in uniforms are monotonously dismantling another building. The tractor destroys the wall, the crane carries the concrete slab to the ground, where it is smashed by workers. They want to get to the rebar hidden inside. From the concrete shop, only the foundation and a pile of stone chips remained. The further fate of the still surviving buildings frightens with its predictability.

Photo by Oleg Stonko

The huge gray box of the reactor shop dominates the territory of the facility. The workshop, as high as two nine-story buildings and over 70 meters wide, was built on a six-meter foundation. You can enter it through a huge round hole. The metal door, half a meter thick, was dragged away long ago. There is no radiation danger, since they did not have time to deliver nuclear fuel. Entrance is free, there is no security.

The building contains 1,300 rooms, box-rooms for various purposes and, accordingly, sizes. Inside the boxes is empty and dusty. Pieces of wires are hanging somewhere, garbage is lying around. Light does not penetrate into the reactor shop at all. The heavy silence, the belated echo of footsteps and the closed space of the rooms thicken the atmosphere. Being here is unsettling. Random noises are annoying. Nevertheless, you are not in a hurry to leave the reactor. It can be summed up in one phrase: "Terrifyingly interesting."

“In Crimea, everything was done slowly”

Toropov Vitaly, head of the reactor shop:

- Scientists and specialists have been working on the project of the Crimean nuclear power plant since 1968. In 1975, a satellite city was laid - Shchelkino, named after the Soviet nuclear physicist. This is a settlement in which nuclear scientists and their families were supposed to live. When in June 1981 I arrived in the Leninsky district, at the site of the future station, one might say, wheat was still earing and they were just beginning to dig a foundation pit. I was sent here from the Kola NPP. Indeed, in Soviet times, as it was: after studying at the university, you start from the lowest positions, then you rise higher. No one would immediately appoint me the head of the shop.

According to the plan, the power plant was to operate in four years and ten months. But the management was recruited in advance: senior engineers and heads of the four main workshops. Such was the rule. They had to control the receipt of documentation, equipment, monitor the progress of construction and installation work, and gradually recruit personnel. The salary during this period was paid, of course, small.

It was important for me to understand the geography of the workshop. When the reactor is operating, you have a few seconds not to receive a lethal dose of radiation. You need to act instantly, to know exactly where which valve is located. Even in the blackout mode, you have to be able to feel like a divers.

In 1986, the reactor was supposed to be launched, but due to the slow pace of construction, they did not have time. I attribute this to the specifics of the Crimea. Here everything was done slowly. For example, in a year they managed to build one kindergarten. And there seemed to be money, but the party had doubts and some party members were against it. And then it exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the construction stalled. There was a wave of discontent. Many believed that Crimea would become the second Chernobyl.

Photo by Oleg Stonko

In 1988, I was sent to Cuba, where I worked for three years at the nuclear power plant in Juragua. When I returned, the station was already closed and torn apart. It was about 90% complete. Less than a year left for installation and commissioning. If they had time to launch, the station would not have been closed. In addition, equipment for two more units was stored in warehouses. Moreover, the equipment is high-quality, with imported parts. If Vladimir Tansky, the director of the Crimean NPP, took the situation under control and kept the course of events, nothing would be stolen. It was necessary to wait until the hype with Chernobyl subsides, becomes less flashy.

We planned to build four reactor blocks, each of them would generate one million megawatts. One million was enough for Crimea, so the first block was built in order to refuse the overflow of electricity from the mainland. The second block was needed to provide Feodosia and Kerch with hot water, to rid the peninsula of coal dependence and boiler houses. Through the third block, they wanted to desalinate sea water. The whole world is doing it. We wanted to fill the Crimea with fresh water and not depend on. The fourth block is for sale, to the Caucasus, to earn money.

“The Crimean NPP was erroneously compared with Chernobyl”

Anatoly Chehuta, master of instrumentation and automation (KIPiA):

- I arrived at the station as soon as they issued a referral: I wanted to get an apartment early. Later it could not be done. My specialization is the maintenance and operation of various control and measuring equipment. Prior to that, he worked for ten years at a nuclear power plant in Tomsk. It was a secret facility, and in official documents it was listed as a chemical plant. Upon arrival in Shchelkino, I had an exposure level of 25 roentgens. Five years later, it dropped to 15. Now, probably, there is nothing. Although for a long time the level of 5 roentgens was stable.

One of the problems of the closure of the Crimean nuclear power plant is the general secrecy. There was a lack of publicity. In Soviet times, nothing was disclosed: projects, research, data. When environmentalists raised a wave of indignation in 1986, they did not have official information, so any assumptions could be made. Even the most ridiculous ones. As an example, in the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant with a constant southeast wind, radioactive fallout could fall on Foros. Where Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev rested in the summer. As a result, a terrible story was blown out of this.

The Crimean nuclear power plant was mistakenly compared with Chernobyl. After all, these are two different types reactor. In Chernobyl, they used RBMK-1000, in Crimea - VVER-1000. I will not go into details. But it's like heating water over a fire in a saucepan without a lid or a closed thermal dish. The difference is huge.

Photo by Oleg Stonko

The reactor did not produce plutonium, but produced steam. The steam turned the turbines, which produced electricity. If in Chernobyl the RBMK was buried nine floors into the ground, then the Crimean VVER was neatly placed on a small platform. There was a three-stage protection system. The reactor room was covered with a continuous layer of reinforced concrete. IN emergency The doors were hermetically sealed and air was sucked out of the room. In an explosion in a vacuum, the pressure was zero. So there could be no disaster. By the way, the building of the reactor shop could withstand a direct collision with a jet aircraft.

The same water-cooled nuclear reactors are used in submarines. The type is the same, only smaller in size. In 1988 in the Soviet Union nuclear boats there were 350 pieces. And so far there has not been a single accident. From the point of view of physics and design, it is a very reliable device.

Another argument of the opponents of the construction was the lack of exploration of the location of the nuclear power plant. Specifically, seismic. Allegedly, the reactor was built on the site of a tectonic fault, and with small tremors, an accident could occur. But later, in 1989, when independent Italian seismologists arrived, they concluded that at least ten reactors could be built, there was no fault. So, the Soviet experts were right, and the place was chosen well. The reactor itself was built to withstand a magnitude nine earthquake. But it was already late, and the station was closed.

50 tons of steam per hour

Andrey Arzhantsev, head of the heat supply section of the TsTPK:

- TsTPK is a workshop for thermal and underground utilities. Under my leadership there was a start-up-reserve boiler house or PRK. If it is easier to explain, then the start-up boiler house is four boilers that produced 50 tons of steam per hour. Due to which hot water and heat were supplied to Shchelkino. Now in the city they have forgotten such words - “hot water”, and earlier it was 75 degrees in the tap.

The main purpose of the PRK is the commissioning of turbines, the heating of the reactor. None without her nuclear power plant is not being built. But having completed their task, the boiler house is dismantled, and, for example, a gym is created on its basis.

Photo by Oleg Stonko

The basic project of the Crimean "atomic" was special. There was nothing like this at that time. The turbines were to be cooled by sea water. We planned to take water from the Aktash reservoir and use it as a cooling pond. In Aktash, water came from Sea of Azov. That is, there was an unlimited supply. As a result, nuclear power plants produced environmentally friendly energy.

After the closure of the nuclear power plant, Shchelkino gradually dies out. I think there is no need to explain what happens to the city when it loses its main enterprise. The population decreased from 25 thousand to 11. In terms of intellectual potential, Shchelkino was considered the most developed place in the Crimea. Here every second had two higher education. Aerobatics specialists from all over the Soviet Union. And instead of the industrial heart of the Shelkino peninsula, it becomes a resort village. What you see now is a tenth of what the city could become. There are no streets here, the houses are simply numbered. Of the attractions - the market, the city council and housing and communal services.

Some nuclear scientists are leaving, others are staying. Those who had somewhere to return left. Throughout the Union, the construction of nuclear power plants is being frozen. There was no work. Here at least the apartment remained. Of course, no one worked in the specialty. I am currently the director of a boarding house.

“Crimea needs a nuclear power plant”

Sergey Varavin, senior turbine control engineer, director of KP " Management Company"Shchelkinsky industrial park":

- It is difficult to say who was right and who was to blame then that the Crimean nuclear power plant began to be plundered. The property was redistributed between customers and contractors. About a hundred firms were involved in the construction. Each of them wanted their money back, so the equipment was being sold. In addition, after the collapse of the Union, something was perceived as free, so they dragged what they could. There was no high-profile case on this matter, so there is no need to talk about embezzlement. Now it's no longer clear.

Photo by Oleg Stonko

The land was redistributed among the construction participants. Someone refused the plots, someone left. Part of the territory remained in the hands of owners and tenants, the rest became the property of the city. It is planned to create an industrial park on the site owned by the City Council. The project started in 2007. But due to lack of funding, it was never implemented.

Now the project is included in the Federal target program development of industrial parks in the Crimea. One billion 450 thousand rubles will be allocated for the development of the business plan. Our task is to prepare everything for the future investor. Collect all documents, equip the territory, create infrastructure and so on. All that's left is to start building. The focus is very different: from a gas turbine station to an agricultural complex.

But ask any operator of our nuclear power plant, and he will answer: "Crimea needs a nuclear power plant."

“All Crimeans would have cancer”

Valery Mitrokhin, poet, prose writer, essayist, member of the Writers' Union of Russia:

- Immediately after being accepted as a member of the Writers' Union, I was sent to the construction of the Crimean nuclear power plant. There I am writing a book of essays "Sun Builders". Three chapters are controversial. They are devoted to the problems that could arise as a result of the construction of the station. I was accused of undermining the material condition of the country. About a billion rubles have already been spent on the facility. At the then rate, one dollar was equal to 80 kopecks, that is, looked from the bottom up. A lot of money. Therefore, a nuclear power plant is rightfully considered the most expensive unfinished project in the world.

A book about the builders of the sun was published in 1984. I refused to throw out the chapters, for which they stopped publishing me for ten years, they did not allow me to broadcast on the regional television and radio.

There were problems, contractors and nuclear scientists knew about them. Everyone was silent. When I began to dig deeper, to communicate with specialists, I came across such a volume of information that it was impossible not to write about it. It threatened disaster. If they had built the station, even in all respects, there would have been a second Chernobyl.

First, hired workers were hacking. Some norms were not respected, mistakes were made. For example, they mixed up the brand of cement. If you look at buildings today, they are crumbling, concrete is crumbling. And not much time has passed. I saw with my own eyes how they built a "glass" under the reactor. There is no mention of any tightness. There would be leaks. A microscopic hole would be enough to irradiate the soil within a radius of tens of kilometers.

Photo by Oleg Stonko

The second is the specificity of the Crimean seismic. We are shaken every year. Tremors are small, but they are. And there is a tectonic fault. It runs from the Feodosia Bay to the Kazantip Bay. Two plates are constantly in contact with each other. While the construction of the power plant was going on, not far from the coast, in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, an island appeared and disappeared. A clear confirmation of my argument. It is not clear why seismologists hid such facts.

The third is the cooling of turbines with the help of a reservoir. Let me explain with my fingers. Water enters the station, cools the turbines, returns to Aktash and back to the station. It constantly circulates and gets dirty. To avoid this, they make an exit to the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. Now the water is constantly updated. But at what cost? Ten years later, Azov turns into an atomic swamp. The Sea of Azov is connected to the Black Sea. So, a little later, he will suffer the same fate. Next up is the Mediterranean. Not to mention evaporation and precipitation. By this time, all Crimeans would have had cancer.

Having learned about everything, I become one of the founders of the environmental movement. I begin to travel with my book in the Crimea. Understand, environmentalists did not inflate the problem from scratch, afraid of Chernobyl. There were claims. There were no answers. We wanted to save the peninsula. Of course, the project was good, the reactor was excellent and modern, but the wrong place was chosen. Of this I am sure.

In 1990, the film "Who Needs an Atom" was released. We are talking about the use of nuclear energy in the energy sector. It is noteworthy that one of the fragments of the picture is devoted to the problems of the Crimean NPP. There are two opposing points of view in the passage.

[:RU]I will start my story about Crimea with an unfinished nuclear power plant, which is located near the city of Kerch. It was this nuclear power plant that could play important role in the life of the entire Crimean peninsula and become a cheap source of energy for future industries that were planned to be located on the peninsula. Alas, now the nuclear power plant has become just a good source of metal, and, most likely, already for foreign manufacturers.

By chance, I met a man who took an active part in the construction of the station. I forgot to ask his name, his story was so interesting, but I managed to make his photo portrait.

Crimean NPP

“Like after the war, but there was such beauty,” during our conversation Old man said this phrase several times. They planned to turn Crimea into a paradise for tourists, and provide local residents with jobs in new industries. From the city of Kerch, it was planned to launch trolleybuses right up to Sevastopol itself (now such buses run between Yalta and the nearest villages). For the implementation of all these plans, a sufficient amount of electricity was needed. In 1975, they began to build a nuclear power plant, having previously prepared the satellite town of Shchelkino.

Crimean NPP

By the way, the construction was completed, they even managed to start the reactor, and a polar crane was installed in the building for the installation of heavy equipment. The launch of the station was scheduled for 1989, but ... The 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant left its mark. Only this imprint was superimposed not so much on nuclear power, how much for the already undermined economic situation in the country. Here a huge “thank you” must be said to Mikhail Sergeyevich, who received the Nobel Prize for the collapse of the country and now lives happily behind the cordon.

Crimean NPP

Further, the history of the most expensive nuclear power plant in the world went downhill. From 1995 to 1999, the festival "Republic of Kazantip" was held on the territory of the nuclear power plant. Then the East Crimean Energy Company began to sell off the equipment of the power plant. It is not clear why the company was called "Energy Company".

They would be honestly called - "Company for the sale of metal left by the Soviet Union." The remains of the nuclear power plant were transferred to the Council of Ministers of Crimea and, it seems, should be sold in order to invest money in the city of Shchelkino. But the signs with the inscription “private property” make you wonder if a private owner needs to invest in the city of Shchelkino?

Also, during the construction, a unique tower crane was used, one of the largest in the world, with a lifting capacity of 240 tons. It stood until the mid-2000s, after which it was sold for scrap. In the photo, this is the tallest crane. By the way, please note that the engine block attached to the reactor block was built in structures, but at present it is completely destroyed.

And this is already a real steam generator: They did not have time to deliver them to the Crimean nuclear power plant, as well as the reactor. They were brought and laid on the grass.

So they lay there until 2005, when two people came with autogen and turned the reactor into scrap metal in a few days.

In 2005, the reactor was sawn up with autogen, then taken to ferrous metal. From the control rooms, all equipment was also taken out and handed over to ferrous metal. It seems that in a couple of years there will be nothing left of the station at all.

The station has an almost complete twin - the abandoned unfinished Stendal nuclear power plant, 100 km west of Berlin in Germany, built according to the same Soviet project from 1982 to 1990. By the time the construction was stopped, the readiness of the first power unit was 85%. Its only significant difference from the Crimean NPP is the use of cooling towers for cooling, and not reservoirs.
The place where the reactor was to be installed.

Currently, this type of reactor is the most common in its series - 31 operating reactors (out of 54 VVERs), which is 7.1% of the total number of power reactors of all types in operation in the world.
The entrance to the hermetic zone - the hermetic door is long gone.

If someone is going to go there, be sure to take a flashlight and look under your feet, there are a lot of through technical holes in the floor.

Technical openings for cables and communications. The equipment used to be here.

A crane is used for dismantling, and earlier, for construction, another crane was installed - a polar one. It was one of the tallest cranes in the world with a lifting capacity of 240 tons, it was almost 2 times taller than the crane in the photo. The crane was dismantled and sold for use.

In early 2005, the Representative Office of the Crimean Property Fund sold the reactor section of the Crimean NPP for UAH 1.1 million ($207,000) to an undisclosed legal entity. Now the station is continuously working on the dismantling and removal of parts of the block for ferrous metal.

The Crimean NPP was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive nuclear reactor in the world.

From 1995 to 1999, discos of the Republic of KaZantip festival were held in the turbine department. The advertisement read: "Nuclear party in the reactor."

It was planned to use the Aktash reservoir as a cooling pond, on the bank of which the station was built.

The station was supposed to have 2 VVER-1000 reactors with a nominal power of 1000 MW each.

Railway lock, designed primarily to replace nuclear fuel at nuclear power plants.

We look up from the gateway. A large crane is visible, which once knew how to move in a circle and lift everything up to the reactor itself.

A place for a reactor, which was never brought here.

Some kind of mobile transformer, apparently.

Pit reactor.

Upward view. Visible faucet and stainless steel walls

One of several boilers of unknown purpose, most likely part of the reactor cooling system.

Again stainless steel.

Spray pools.

Crimean NPP

The Crimean NPP is the most expensive unfinished nuclear reactor in the world. For the sake of servicing the power plant on the Kerch Peninsula, a whole city was erected - Shchelkino. An associated infrastructure was created. Specialists from all over the Soviet Union were invited. Less than a year was not enough to start the reactor, then Crimea would be able to provide itself with electricity on its own.
There is little left of the Crimean nuclear power plant now. A vast area of abandoned and dilapidated buildings. The remains of the workshops are densely covered with grass and trees. Things that had even the slightest value were dug up, torn out and taken out. The nuclear reactor, the lining of the mine and the control panel of the nuclear power plant were cut into non-ferrous metal. And if precious metals and equipment were taken away in the first place, today you can profit only from iron in concrete slabs.

Photo by Oleg Stonko