The accidental placing of a piece of uranium ore close to a photographic
plate on a shelf in Beckerel's lab had turned out to be a first step towards the
mastering of atomic power. Since then humanity had solved one of the greatest
mysteries of nature - the secret of atom nucleus. The fact that a powerful base
for the manufacturing of nuclear weapon materials had been founded in Siberia,
in special underground conditions, is due to the atmosphere of the years of
"cold war". Nevertheless, the establishment of the base had been carried out
with great enthusiasm. The nuclear shield of Russia - the Mining Chemistry Plant
- had been built in shortest possible time.
The first reactor had started to work in August 1959, the second - in 1961,
the third - in 1964. The plant represents two fields of industry, reactor and
radio chemical ones. The technological equipment serves as the main source of
radiation. Each ton of used fuel carries approximately 30 kg of radioactive
waste. All the rest needs additional enrichment before entering the same
industrial cycle again. The cycle is supported by the fuel regeneration plant,
built in 1972. This plant has a great depository of radioactive waste. The world
authorities agree to the opinion that the radioactive waste could bo stored for
centuries in hardened and glazed state. The Mining Chemistry Plant grows
together with the neighboring town.
On the 25-year anniversary of the plant one of the town streets had been
renamed after Igor V, Kurchatov, one of the most famous scientific and
administrative workers of nuclear industry. Another street was named after
Alexander G. Grigoriev, who has been the first worker of the plant to be awarded
the title of Socialist Labor Hero. The times of secrecy are coming to an end,
and the uranium energy will serve the peaceful aims in the future.
On 22 September, 1992, the engineer E. Kositsyn had pushed a red button, and
180 special bars had pierced the heart of reactor. The chain reaction had been
stopped for good. This moment had been a starting point of the new history of
Krasnoyarsk-26 (or Zheleznogorsk). The weapons are no longer being prodused. The
big world had taken a deep breath of relief, but for those who used to work at
the reactor this occurence had proved to be more sad than joyful. The photo- and
video-films have preserved the touching sight of a single bunch of roses
somebody had laid on top of the huge reactor cover.
The first and second reactors had been stopped, and only the third one
continues to work, supplying the town with energy. History had tied the plant
and the town together, and these ties will never break.
Their biographies contain both happy and sad pages, but there is not a single
page to be ashamed of. And that is much to be said. The absolutely safe and
harmless technologies had never existed. The higher the level of danger, the
more perfect should be the industry. One ton of uranium when it leaves the
factory contains 30 kg of radioactive waste which has to be taken away and
stored safely. The Fuel Regeneration Plant had been built in 1972 for this
purpose. The storage of radioactive waste is a part of the plant. The waste is
harmless in hardened and glazed state and could be stored quite safely for a
long time.
