Is there a nuclear power plant in Crimea? Crimean NPP in Shchelkino

During one of my regular trips, I decided to visit the unfinished Crimean nuclear power plant, located not far from Shchelkino. In general, I am a fan of non-standard solutions, besides, I myself work at a nuclear power plant. Therefore, it was very interesting for me to see the object, which could become one of the most significant in the Crimea.

Location, history

The Crimean NPP facility, which has not become significant for the entire peninsula, and maybe the whole country, is located in the immediate vicinity of the village of Shchelkino and a local attraction -. The development of a very expensive project in those days began back in 1968. The construction itself was launched seven years later - in 1975. Already in the eighty-fourth year, the object was considered a "shock construction site".

And there were good reasons for that, because its design capacity was supposed to take place between the Balakovo and Khmelnitsky nuclear power plants. The calculation was carried out for 2 GW. It was in those days that Shchelkino was called a "satellite city", unfortunately, today it looks like an ordinary village.

On construction site for the first time, a circular bridge assembly, the so-called "Polar Crane", was used in the process. They immediately used the first solar station SES-5 in the Soviet Union. Eleven years later, the facility was 80 percent ready, but a tragedy occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (1986). All work was temporarily stopped, and three years later the construction site was closed altogether.

There are different opinions as to why this happened, one of the versions is the Chernobyl accident. According to another version, there were serious problems with the input of the object. You can argue on this topic for a very long time, but it's all useless. The fact remains that the construction was never completed. And they decided to sell the object, but even then something went wrong.

What attracts tourists to the unfinished nuclear power plant

This place is interesting for young people, especially the turbine department. It was in it that the founders of the "Kazantip Republic" for three years, from 1996 to 1999, held their famous parties with the loud name "Atomic Party in the Reactor". After the unfinished station, various extreme clubs began to operate. They offered to all lovers thrill jumping from a small height (base jumping).

By the way, if you watched Fyodor Bondarchuk's film "Inhabited Island", you will immediately see familiar landscapes. After all, he shot many shots here. And Bondarchuk is not the only one; you can see the silhouette of the power unit that went into operation in other films.

In addition, walks here are absolutely safe for human health, since the raw materials, although they were brought to Shchelkino, did not manage to be placed at the station. Today, the recycling of structures is in full swing here. The Ministry of Energy of Russia plans to create an entire industrial park on the site of the unfinished Crimean NPP. So it is quite possible that these edges will become real. The unfinished nuclear power plant is more to the liking of lovers of gloomy, gloomy landscapes. It was interesting to me as an employee, exactly the same nuclear power plant. The entrance is free.

How to get (get) to the Crimean nuclear power plant

The easiest way to get here is with your own car. Exact coordinates and map at the bottom of the page. Go towards the village of Shchelkino, from the village of Semenovka, the garden society "Vishnya-96" keep the way to the Aktash lake (reservoir). Its shore is the end point of the path. By the way, if you don’t have your own transport, you can do it without problems.

A photo

Exact location on the map, GPS coordinates: 45°23’30.0″N 35°48’12.0″E (45.391673, 35.803341)

That's about this, not quite the usual place, I wanted to write today. If you want to personally see the remains of the nuclear power plant that was built on the Crimean Peninsula, I recommend not to waste time. Carefully prepare for the trip and find a place to stay. Moreover, housing in the Crimea today it is possible to book online not only quickly, but also profitably. Thus, providing yourself with an interesting, useful and comfortable stay.

[: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 an 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 was taking Active participation 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,” the elderly man said this phrase several times during our conversation. They planned to turn Crimea into a paradise for tourists, and provide local residents with jobs in new industries. From the city of Kerch, they 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 imposed not so much on nuclear energy, but on 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) legal entity, whose name has not been revealed. Now the station is continuously working on the dismantling and removal of parts of the block for ferrous metal.

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

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

Crimean NPP

Crimean NPP

Crimean NPP

Crimean NPP

Crimean NPP

Crimean NPP

On the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov in the Crimea, 75 kilometers west of Kerch, there is a rather popular resort town of Shchelkino. Vacationers appreciate it for its good ecology, spacious beaches and ideal conditions for families with children. One of the main Crimean centers for surfing and paragliding is located in Shchelkino. Near the village is the legendary Cape Kazantip. This, perhaps, is all that this small town in the northeast of the Crimean peninsula is known for.

However, there is another interesting object in Shchelkino, which usually passes by the attention of most ordinary tourists. We are talking about the unfinished and abandoned Crimean nuclear power plant - one of the most curious and mysterious places on the peninsula.

Not all vacationers who come to Shchelkino know that this Azov resort owes its appearance to the Crimean nuclear power plant. Initially, Shchelkino was built as a satellite city of the nuclear power plant and its main population was planned to be made up of the station personnel. The name was also chosen taking into account its main purpose - the city was named after the famous nuclear physicist Kirill Shchelkin.

However, fate decreed otherwise and today's Shchelkino is a small town whose inhabitants live mainly on income from the resort business. But first things first…

In our today's article, we will talk about the history of the construction of the Crimean nuclear power plant in Shchelkino, and also talk about the prospects for the resumption of the nuclear power industry on the peninsula.

The idea to build a nuclear power plant in Crimea originated in political and scientific circles Soviet Union in the postwar years. One of the reasons was the notorious resource scarcity of the Crimean peninsula. The appearance of a nuclear power plant in Crimea would close the problem of energy supply to the region once and for all.

The development of the project of the Crimean NPP began in the late 60s, and already in 1975 the construction of the station and the satellite town started directly.

The construction of the Crimean NPP was carried out in the traditional for the USSR style of "all-Union construction". A lot of engineers, nuclear physicists and builders came from all over the country to the Azov coast of Crimea. The station in Shchelkino was built according to a standard, already run-in project. Similar nuclear power plants have already been built in Khmelnitsky, Volgodonsk and the Czech Republic.

Initially, it was planned that two power units with a capacity of 1 GW each would be built at the Shchelkino nuclear power plant, despite the fact that the maximum demand for electricity in Crimea is approximately 1200 MW. However, already in the process of construction, the project was expanded to four power units with a capacity of 1 million megawatts each. You may ask why so many, because, as we have already mentioned, even one power unit per million megawatts would be quite enough for Crimea. However, the plans of the builders of the nuclear power plant were not limited only to the power supply of the peninsula. So, with the help of the second power unit, it was planned to provide hot water Feodosia and Kerch. The third power unit was supposed to work for the desalination of sea water on an industrial scale in order to save the Crimea from the shortage of fresh water. And finally, the fourth power unit was supposed to work "for export", supplying electricity to the Krasnodar Territory and the Caucasus.

Before proceeding with the construction of the station, a satellite city was built in the immediate vicinity of it, which received the name Shchelkino. The main construction of the city was completed in 1978. Since that time, the city began to be actively populated. The main backbone of its inhabitants were visitors, while the real intellectual elite of the country came to Shchelkino for permanent residence.

The construction of the nuclear power plant itself began in 1982 - during the relatively prosperous times of the Brezhnev stagnation.

For the needs of a grandiose construction project, a line was drawn from the Kerch branch towards Shchelkino railway, along which trains loaded with building materials. By 1987, the main work was completed, and in 1989, the first power unit was already scheduled to start the reactor.

However, the political and economic crisis that began in the country, which led to the fall of the Soviet empire, intervened in the plans of the nuclear scientists. However, the collapse of the USSR was far from being the main reason for stopping construction. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant played a key role in the closure of the Shchelkino NPP project.

At the very moment when the construction of the Crimean NPP had already reached the finishing stage, Chernobyl struck. The terrible tragedy that broke out in the Kyiv region greatly frightened the world community. Nuclear power and everything that was connected with it, overnight turned into an object of the close attention. On this wave, an active campaign began in the Crimea against the further construction of a nuclear power plant in Shchelkino. One of the arguments of the activists of this campaign was the fact that the Crimea is a seismic zone and in the event of an earthquake, a nuclear monster enclosed in reactors could get out of control.

However, many experts believe that the hysteria inflated around this topic had no serious grounds, since the Crimean and Chernobyl nuclear power plants were fundamentally different, both in the type of reactors used and in the system of protection against emergency situations. Many nuclear engineers have argued and continue to argue that the Crimean NPP reactors were extremely reliable and safe to use in terms of design.

However, single voices in defense of the station were drowned in the general chorus of opponents of the construction of the Crimean NPP. Under pressure from the public and circumstances, in 1987 all work on the construction of the station was stopped, despite the fact that by that time the first power unit of the nuclear power plant was almost 80% ready. At the time construction was stopped, building materials worth 250 million Soviet rubles were still stored in warehouses in the Shelkino area. A huge amount for those times!

Most of all, the decision to mothball the construction site was disappointed by the residents of the city of Shchelkino. After all, the refusal to continue building the station for many of them meant the collapse of plans and hopes associated with further work. When it became obvious that the project of the Crimean nuclear power plant was finally buried, many people packed their things and left Shchelkino, where, apart from the failed nuclear power plant, there was no production.

However, despite the decision of part of the population to leave Shchelkino, a significant part of the inhabitants remained. The city was saved ... by the sea. Or rather, the fact that Shchelkino is located in a fairly good place on the Azov coast. If not for this factor, Shchelkino, with a high degree of probability, would have turned into a ghost town.

However, despite its "resort status", Shchelkino, by and large, is a depressive city with very vague prospects. The population of the city has decreased from 25 thousand to 11 and continues to decrease.

After the construction stopped, the failed nuclear power plant began to gradually fall into disrepair and be plundered. The amount of material resources invested in the Crimean NPP turned out to be so huge that the most valuable components were sold and taken away until recently. All the most "delicious" was sold for a lot of money, and local residents and visiting guest performers pilfered the station in detail. The reactor, which was cut into scrap metal in 2005, did not escape the sad fate.

The very territory of the failed nuclear power plant was chosen by active youth. So, in the 90s, discos of the famous Kazantip rave festival were held in the turbine department of the station. And from the high booms of the Danish Kroll crane, which was purchased for installation nuclear reactor, base jumpers regularly jumped.

The unfinished Crimean nuclear power plant managed to visit the role of a cinematic platform. Episodes of several films were filmed here, the most famous of which was Fyodor Bondarchuk's painting "Inhabited Island".

Today, the territory of the nuclear power plant and its interior are quite suitable for filming films based on the plot of the famous computer game "Half Life".

By the way, the territory of the unfinished nuclear power plant in Shchelkino is open to the public, and therefore, if you are a fan of non-traditional tourist routes, then you will be very interested here. But be careful and extremely attentive - an unfinished man-made object is fraught with many dangers.

By the way, contrary to numerous rumors, the Crimean NPP does not pose a radiation hazard, since nuclear fuel did not come here.

As for the prospects for resuming the construction of the Crimean nuclear power plant in Shchelkino, they still remain very vague. Relatively recently, Rosatom has indicated its interest in this topic and even held consultations. However, to date, no decisions have been made regarding the revival of the project for the construction of the Crimean NPP and, in all likelihood, will not be made any more, due to economic feasibility. According to experts, it is easier and cheaper to build a new station than to try to restore the destroyed and plundered nuclear power plant in Shchelkino.

An interesting fact: the Crimean NPP has a twin station. This is the unfinished Stendal nuclear power plant, located west of Berlin in Germany. From 1982 to 1990 it was built in the GDR on a similar project. Like the nuclear power plant in Shchelkino, its German "sister" was also 85% ready.

That's all, enjoy your holiday in the Crimea!

> Abandoned Nuclear power plant in Crimea

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% ...
I will give more detailed information 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 background of the 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. I was surprised by the almost complete absence of corrosion for so many years - only an oxidized surface

14. Let's go back to the faucet.

15. Cabin

16. Rollers. Under each pair is 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 the "metalworkers"

24. Shock built, shock break

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

26.

27.

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 USSR economy 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 East Crimean Energy Company, a subsidiary established on the basis of the nuclear power plant, sold the station's property 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 department of the Crimean NPP for UAH 1.1 million ($207,000) to an undisclosed legal entity.
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 - 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. 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.