Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant

The ‘Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’ was officially named the ‘Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant.’ It had four active plants. Reactor 4 exploded in 1986. The remaining three plants were eventually shut down by 2000.

The search for a location for a nuclear power plant began in 1965. The work was led by the TeploElektroProekt Institute. Engineers chose a site in the Chernobyl region, about 4 kilometers from the village of Kopachi. The plant rose on the right bank of the Pripyat River, close to the Yaniv railway station. The city of Chernobyl lay around 15 kilometers away.

Construction moved fast. The first reactor went online in 1977. Reactor 2 followed one year later. In 1981, Reactor 3 started operating. Reactor 4 came into service in 1983. This fourth reactor would later become known around the world for the worst possible reason.

On April 26, 1986, a disaster struck Reactor No. 4. A sudden and uncontrolled power surge caused explosions inside the core. Fires burned in the open air and released massive amounts of radioactive material. Radioactive dust and gases spread into the atmosphere and settled on the surrounding land.

The accident is widely seen as the most severe nuclear disaster in history. Reactor No. 4 was completely destroyed. Authorities sealed the remains inside a concrete and lead sarcophagus to contain the radiation. Years later, they placed a huge steel shelter over it to stop further leaks. The fallout did not stay local. Large parts of Europe were contaminated, and the radioactive cloud reached as far as Norway.

After the explosion at Reactor No. 4, the remaining three reactors at the power plant continued to operate, as the Soviet Union could not afford to shut the plant down. In October 1991, reactor No. 2 caught fire and was subsequently shut down. In November 1996, following pressure from foreign governments, reactor No. 1 was shut down. During December 2000, reactor No. 3 was shut down after operating briefly since March 1999. In April 2015, units 1 through 3 entered the decommissioning phase.

Two more reactors, 5 and 6, capable of producing 1,000 MW each, were under construction at the time of the accident. Reactor 5 and its cooling towers were about 70% complete at the time of the accident.  The towers were scheduled to start operating on November 7, 1986. Furthermore, a 6th reactor was planned in a new block of buildings, scheduled to be completed in 1994.

The first construction and installation work on reactor 5 began in 1981. Construction continued throughout the night of the explosion. Construction work was soon stopped but resumed again on the 10th of October, 1986. Six months later, on 24 April 1987, work was once again halted, and the decision was made not to complete the reactors.

After 23 years and one day of operation, on December 15, 2000, the nuclear power plant permanently stopped generating electricity.  Currently, they are decommissioning the nuclear power plant and transforming the destroyed fourth power unit into an environmentally friendly system.