Decommissioned Crimea nuclear plant to be demolished: government

Moscow — The government of Crimea has decided to fully demolish the Crimean Atomic Energy station near Shcholkine, construction of which was halted after the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the government said in a statement on its website Feb. 5.

Construction of the plant and its one 1,000-MW VVER-1000 started in 1976, and by 1986 was nearly complete. However, a Soviet government inspection after the Chernobyl accident found the plant to be located on a geologically volatile site and construction was canceled in 1989.

By the end of 2021, the authorities plan to demolish two diesel generator stations, the turbine hall, machine block foundation, pumping station, and the nuclear power plant's reactor compartment, the government said Feb. 5.

"These objects are unsuitable for operation," Daniil Pidaev, spokesperson for the Crimean Architecture and Building Ministry, told to the Russia Gazette, the Russian government's in-house publication. "They have lost their properties, are in a dilapidated state, and there is a threat of collapse," posing a threat to those who visit the facilities, Pidaev said.

In 2015, Viktor Rogotsky, a member of the Committee for Economic Policy at the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, called on the government to consider reviving the Crimean project and building two 900-MW power units.

However, Rosenergoatom general director Pavel Ipatov claimed there was no need to build a nuclear power plant on the peninsula and recommended instead that Crimea develop non-nuclear thermal power, the Russian state-owned news outlet Tass reported at the time.