Nuclear facilities in Crimea and Sevastopol

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Nuclear facilities in Crimea were actively built during the Soviet era. But after the collapse of the Union, many of them were closed, and subsequently they were dismantled by looters. The Soviet legacy is a huge number of inactive objects in Russia and in the former Soviet republics. Abandoned objects of Crimea attract diggers, tourists and just those who like to tickle their nerves.

Reasons for the construction of a large number of nuclear facilities

Because of its border location, Crimea has always been at the center of military development. During Soviet times, after the start of the Cold War, the country's leadership tried to secure the state.

Since a very tense situation reigned in the world political arena and there was a real threat of a nuclear strike from America, large-scale construction of objects for various purposes began in Crimea: from bomb shelters to storage of atomic weapons. Also began to develop the industry of the Crimea.

Unfortunately, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of these facilities were abandoned for various reasons. Russia's nuclear facilities are in the best condition.

Crimean Nuclearstation

The Crimean nuclear power plant was never completed. It is located on the Kerch Peninsula, near the city of Shchelkino, on the banks of the s alty Aktash reservoir. It was planned to be used as a cooling pond.

With the help of this nuclear power plant, the authorities wanted to provide electricity to the entire Crimean peninsula, as well as start the further development of industry. In our time, a working nuclear power plant would be very useful when the Zaporozhye NPP is located on the other side of the border of a not very friendly state.

Construction here began in 1975, along with the construction of the satellite town of Shchelkino. They decided to name the settlement in honor of Kirill Ivanovich Shchelkin, who was an outstanding nuclear physicist. The young city was populated by young specialists - nuclear scientists and experienced workers of operating nuclear power plants on the territory of Ukraine.

The construction of the station itself began only in 1982. The construction was carried out according to a strict schedule, the first launch was scheduled in 1989, but the station did not work. In 1987, the project was frozen. There are many reasons for this, the most important of which is the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Reports began to appear in the media that all nuclear power plants are nuclear hazardous facilities, that it is dangerous to use such fuel, it is unacceptable to build new stations, in particular the Crimean one. In addition to these arguments, there was another one - an unfavorable location from a geological point of view.

In the year of the proposed launch, the project was completely closed. Things were going to the collapse of the Soviet Union, so the almost finished Crimean nuclear power plant was left unattended, thanmarauders of all stripes took advantage.

The nuclear power plant was plundered and taken away for ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Today, only a frame remains of it, and it attracts only tourists and filmmakers. However, like all abandoned nuclear facilities in the Crimea and Sevastopol, the nuclear power plant is being destroyed not only because of looters, but also under the influence of the environment and time.

Alsu Bunker

"Object 221" - the largest bunker in the Crimea. It was planned to place the command of the Black Sea Fleet in it in case of a nuclear attack. In total, it has four underground floors, the depth of which is two hundred meters, and three of them are accessible only with climbing equipment.

Inside the bunker, images of the radiation sign are conspicuous throughout. Here are metal hatches that close passages, kilometers of mines and a huge room for a nuclear reactor.

The entrance to the bunker is located in the "Target" mountain and is disguised as a residential building. Even the windows are painted for believability. At the top of the mountain there are exits of ventilation and waveguide shafts. Looking at him, you understand that the Soviet leadership took the possible aggression from their enemies very seriously.

Visiting the bunker is not recommended due to the many technical passages in which it is easy to get lost, abandoned and dangerous elevator shafts. There is also high humidity inside the object, which creates a favorable microclimate for the development of microorganisms, such as mold, which can lead to necrosislungs.

Underground Sevastopol

The underground city began to develop long before he became interested in the military. They showed interest in him only in the 30s of the XX century. Basically, the underground premises were used as a warehouse for food and ammunition.

When the nuclear threat appeared, the government conceived a grandiose project in its scope. The country, which had not yet recovered from the Second World War, began to prepare for a new war. According to the plan of I. V. Stalin, every building on the surface had to have its counterpart underground. And in the event of an atomic war, people would simply go down a few tens of meters and continue to live and work as usual.

The plan was very complicated, and by 1953 the underground Sevastopol was not even half built. At this time, Khrushchev comes to power and throws all his strength and resources into the development of rocket development and nuclear submarines. As a result, the underground city project is frozen and never returned to.

Only a few rooms were suitable as shelters and put into operation. Little is known about the rest of the buildings. The especially secret ones disappeared, as if they never existed: the entrances were walled up, and the drawings were burned. Other rooms are simply abandoned.

It was assumed that all the premises would be interconnected, but since the city was not completed, many remained autonomous.

Nuclear weapons storage

Nuclear facilities in Crimea were built in the middle of the 20th centuryvery active and with the latest technology. The nuclear weapons storage facility was built in 1955 near Krasnokamenka. This is one of the first central storage facilities for nuclear weapons. The place was not chosen by chance: a valley hidden from prying eyes by mountain spurs. The vault is a tunnel, more than two kilometers long, cut into the Kiziltash mountain. According to experts, the ammunition will remain intact even with a close explosion of a nuclear warhead.

The first atomic bombs in this vault were assembled by hand, with no protection for workers other than alcohol.

Secrecy was very strictly observed. Object 76 could only be accessed with a special pass. There were warning signs everywhere, and the perimeter of the vault was fenced with barbed wire. But, on the one hand, the name Krasnokamenka could be found on the map, and in the passport of local residents it could be “Feodosia-13”.

In 1994, having signed agreements with the United States and Ukraine, Russia moved all the contents of the facility to its territory.

Balaclava ("Object 825")

Until 1957 it was a city, and now it is part of Sevastopol. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, this object was absent from the maps. In its place was a closed base of submarines, an arsenal of nuclear weapons. She was in a rocky shelter, which is an adit and is able to withstand a nuclear strike. For conspiracy, the object was called a repair and technical base.

It was not only a storage facility for nuclear supplies, but alsounderground submarine repair plant.

The construction of this base took only four years: from 1957 to 1961. The channel of this underground harbor included seven diesel submarines at once, and if necessary, several thousand people could be accommodated.

Now "Object 825" is open to everyone and has been turned into a museum of submarines and ships.

Object 100

There was a secret coastal missile system between Cape Aya and Balaklava. From the 50s until the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was he who controlled the entire Black Sea.

The underground complex was completely autonomous in case of prolonged hostilities and had an additional protective frame against nuclear weapons.

The construction of the facility was carried out from 1954 to 1957. The gun mounts of the underground missile system shot down any target within a radius of 100 meters. During construction, it was assumed that the enemy would attack from Turkey. While the complex was hitting the enemy, the command of the Black Sea Fleet could gather and deploy its forces.

For that time, Sotka was equipped with the most modern technology. In 1964 and 1982, reconstruction and re-equipment with new types of missiles were carried out.

In 1996 Sotka was handed over to Ukraine, like many nuclear facilities in Crimea. The government has sealed it. At first, the facility was guarded, but by 2005 no one was left there, and the entire complex was dismantled for scrap.

Nuclear Air Base

Polygon No. 71, orairfield "Bagerovo" - a facility that can receive aircraft of all types. It is also a spare runway for the Buran spacecraft, which is still in good condition.

The main functions of the range were bombing from fighters in the mode of air nuclear explosions, "non-nuclear" bomb tests together with fighters. Hazardous waste was buried in the steppe, between the villages of Bagerovo and Chistopolye. The burial ground, which is called Bagerovsky, exists to this day, acquiring many rumors and omissions.

The airfield is located near Kerch - 14 kilometers away. Construction was carried out from 1947 to 1949.

Now four and a half thousand people live in the village. For the most part, these are former military personnel and members of their families.

In the 70-80s, the air regiment in Bagerovo was the training base for the school of navigators. Later he played the role of training and retraining of pilots from all over the USSR. The last graduates left for Russia in 1994. Since 1996, the airfield has not been operated. And in 1998, the military unit was disbanded. The test site fell into disrepair, like almost all nuclear facilities in Crimea.

Nitka Polygon

Located at Novofedorovka airfield. It was built in the 80s of the XX century for training and testing new models of aircraft carriers and for training pilots before landing and taking off on an aircraft carrier.

The polygon fully reproduces a three-deck aircraft carrier with all the necessary devices such as a springboard, a delaying network and other things. And the main simulators are underground.

Teaching nuclear reactor in Sevastopol

The nuclear industry of Crimea is represented by only one reactor, which is located on the territory of the Sevastopol State University of Nuclear Energy and Industry. It was stopped in 2014 due to the annexation of Crimea to Russia. To use a training reactor, a license is required, which the university has only on the territory of Ukraine, but has not been obtained for work in Russia. Therefore, at the moment the reactor is not functioning. The facility was built and put into operation in 1967.