Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
View of the plant in 2013. From L to R New Safe Confinement under construction and reactors 4 to 1.
Official name	Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station
Country	Ukraine
Location	Pripyat
Coordinates	51°23′21″N 30°05′58″E
Status	Inactive
Construction began	15 August 1972
Commission date	26 September 1977 (1977-09-26)
Decommission date	Process ongoing since 2000
Operator(s)	SAUEZM
Nuclear power station
Reactors	4
Reactor type	RBMK-1000
Thermal capacity	12,800 MW
Power generation
Units operational	None
Nameplate capacity	4,000 MW
External links
Website	chnpp.gov.ua/en
Commons	Related media on Commons

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant currently under decommissioning near the city of Pripyat in the Kyiv region, which operated from 1977 to 2000.

History

Construction of the station began in 1970, the first unit was launched in 1977. The nuclear power plant is located at a distance of 2 km from the city of Prypyat, built primarily for its employees. The name is associated with the city of Chernobyl, then the district center of this area. As of the beginning of 1986, Chernobyl was the most powerful nuclear power plant in the European part of the USSR. On April 26, 1986, during a design test, an accident occurred that completely destroyed the station's fourth reactor and caused significant contamination of the surrounding area with radioactive substances. As a result of this catastrophe, the population of Prypyat, Chornobyl and all other settlements within a radius of about 30 km around the station was completely evacuated. Today the accident itself is one of the largest man-made disasters in human history.