Obninsk NPP.

Sixty years ago, in the city of Obninsk, Kaluga Region, the world's first nuclear power plant with the AM-1 reactor (Atom Peaceful) produced industrial current. The AM-1 reactor was a graphite channel-type thermal neutron reactor cooled by water under pressure with tubular fuel elements. The thermal power of the reactor was approximately 30 MW. Electric power of the first nuclear power plant in different years was from 3 to 5 MW, efficiency reached 17%. The fuel load is approximately 560 kg of uranium, enriched in uranium-235 to 10 or 5%.

“The construction of the first industrial nuclear power plant in the USSR with a capacity of 5000 kW was completed in 1954, and on June 27, 1954, the station was already generating electric current due to the fission energy of uranium nuclei,” says the report presented by D.I. Blokhintsev and N. A. Nikolaev on International conference UN on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, held in Geneva on August 8-20, 1955.

Reactor diagram of the First Nuclear Power Plant. Photo: aes1.ru

The operation of the Obninsk NPP reactor was stopped on April 29, 2002 due to unprofitability. “The station was shut down solely for economic reasons, since maintaining it in a safe condition became more and more expensive every year,” reports the website of the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation - IPPE, which is currently in charge of the first nuclear power plant. Currently, the nuclear power plant is an industrial memorial complex.

“Now the fuel has been unloaded, most of the radioactive equipment has been removed, but the reactor graphite remains. It is not yet clear what is better: removing the reactor graphite or leaving it in place,” said Mikhail Zhaidin, scientific director of the Industry Memorial Complex “The World’s First Nuclear Power Plant” in a telephone interview with Bellona.Ru, - The issue of decommissioning work still remains in the shadows, this is not a question for the nuclear power plant museum. Eat different ideas– for example, preserve the first nuclear power plant as a museum. But this should be decided by the Government. After all, it doesn't exist regulatory documents, allowing radiation-hazardous objects to function as museums. Now the nuclear power plant is on the balance sheet of the IPPE. The question is who will continue to maintain the nuclear power plant museum, who will pay for it.”

The race for the “peaceful atom”

The topic of the “peaceful atom” in the mid-1950s became one of the hottest issues in the confrontation between the USSR and the USA. In 1953, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a speech “Atoms for Peace” at the UN General Assembly, in which he proclaimed the beginning of the peaceful use of atomic energy in the United States. In many ways, the Atoms for Peace program was of a propaganda nature; one of its goals was to justify growing military spending. The Soviet “Peaceful Atom” was embodied in the Obninsk nuclear power plant, which began to be used to promote the peaceful course and technical achievements of socialism.

Photo: aes1.ru

“Atom peaceful” in a series of military reactors

In 1954, the USSR had quite a few nuclear reactors in operation. Five uranium-graphite reactors operated at the Mayak plant in the Chelyabinsk region: A (since 1948), AI (since 1951), AV-1 (since 1950), AV-2 (since 1951), AB-3 (since 1952). In terms of layout and basic engineering solutions, these reactors were close to the Obninsk AM-1: graphite stack, technological channels, vertical core. The thermal power of these reactors reached hundreds of MW and exceeded the power of Atom Mirny. The uranium-graphite reactors I-1 and EI-2 were being prepared for launch at the Siberian Chemical Plant near Tomsk (launched in 1955 and 56). Thus, in the early 1950s, a military nuclear reactor was commissioned every year in the USSR. In 1954, Atom Mirny appeared among them.

Nuclear power plant or experimental reactor?

The debate continues over what the Obninsk plant really is - the world's first commercial nuclear power plant, or an experimental facility that only demonstrates the possibility of generating electricity using the fission energy of uranium nuclei?

A number of foreign researchers consider the American Shippingport nuclear power plant, commissioned in Pennsylvania in May 1958 and decommissioned in 1989, to be the first commercial power plant. The pressurized water reactor (predecessor of Russian VVERs) at the Shippingport NPP had a thermal power of about 200 MW, the nuclear power plant produced an electrical power of 60 MW, and over 25 years of operation, 7.4 billion kWh of electricity was generated.

The indicators of the Obninsk NPP are much more modest. On the website of the museum of the first nuclear power plant there is no information about how much electrical and thermal energy it generated during its entire operation.

Mikhail Zhaidin said that it is not known exactly how many years the Obninsk station operated in electricity generation mode. “There is even a joke: “Either the nuclear power plant gives energy, or the nuclear power plant takes energy,” he says: “Data on the production of electrical and thermal energy is not relevant. It was research station. It worked in different modes, at different powers. The station was significant as a scientific, experimental, educational center.”

Indeed, from the moment work began at the Obninsk NPP, a number of experimental installations and stands were put into operation, at which various reactor technologies were tested. The crews of the first Soviet nuclear submarines underwent training at the Obninsk NPP.

However, in the documents of Rosatom, Rostechnadzor and the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation - IPPE, the rector of the nuclear power plant is called “IRAM”, which means “ AM research reactor» .

Photo: aes1.ru

Economy

Like any experimental installation, the Obninsk station could not become cost-effective. Even with the very unique pricing in the USSR, it was not possible to make the nuclear power of the first nuclear power plant competitive. “The cost of 1 kWh of electrical energy generated at the station significantly exceeds the average cost of 1 kWh of powerful thermal power plants in the USSR,” admits the report at the UN International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in 1955: “Analysis of the cost of 1 kW *h of energy generated at the first nuclear power plant, shows that its high cost is due primarily to the small size of the station, high costs for individual production of fuel elements, increased consumption of uranium-235 due to the small size of the nuclear reactor, as well as a number of design features at this station aimed at creating increased operational reliability, which, as operating experience shows, can be abandoned.”

Of course, in the 1955 document, the reference to “operating experience,” which by that time amounted to about a year, seems very strange. At that time, the nuclear energy industry still had events ahead that would negate nuclear optimism, such as the accidents at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, Chernobyl nuclear power plant and Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. Then it seemed that the cost of nuclear electricity could be reduced by increasing the power of nuclear power plants and reducing the cost of building nuclear power plants, primarily by simplifying the design of reactors and safety systems.

Photo: aes1.ru

And if the first was possible, for example, the direct development of the AM-1 reactor became uranium-graphite channel reactors RBMK-1000 with a thermal power of 3 GW, then the second task was not completed. After a series of radiation accidents and catastrophes, the requirements for the safety systems of modern nuclear power plants are increasing, and the cost of their construction is also growing. And even now, like 60 years ago, the total cost of nuclear electricity significantly exceeds the cost of electricity from stations operating on natural gas. This thesis has been proven in: “electricity from nuclear power plants is already more expensive for the consumer than what is produced by gas stations. ... The state provides the industry with practically free capital, bears nuclear risks not covered by insurance premiums, and is largely involved in the direct financing of the nuclear fuel cycle.”

Now the future of nuclear energy no longer seems as cloudless as it seemed in 1954. But in any case, the Obninsk nuclear power plant remains a monument to that era, the era of the arms race, the Cold War and ardent optimism towards nuclear energy.

A bygone era...

Photo: aes1.ru

On June 27, 1954, in the village of Obninskoye, Kaluga Region, at the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering named after A.I. Leypunsky (Laboratory “B”), the world’s first nuclear power plant was launched, equipped with one uranium-graphite channel reactor with a water coolant AM-1 ( "atom peaceful") with a capacity of 5 MW. From this date, the history of nuclear energy began.

During the Second World War, work began in the Soviet Union to create nuclear weapons, which was headed by the physicist, academician I.V. Kurchatov. In 1943, Kurchatov created a research center in Moscow - Laboratory No. 2 - later transformed into the Institute of Atomic Energy. In 1948, a plutonium plant with several industrial reactors was built, and in August 1949, the first Soviet atomic bomb was tested. After the production of enriched uranium was organized and mastered on an industrial scale, an active discussion began on the problems and directions for creating power nuclear reactors for transport use and generating electricity and heat. On behalf of Kurchatov, domestic physicists E. L. Feinberg and N. A. Dollezhal began to develop a reactor design for a nuclear power plant.

On May 16, 1950, a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR determined the construction of three experimental reactors - uranium-graphite with water cooling, uranium-graphite with gas cooling and uranium-beryllium with gas or liquid metal cooling. According to the original plan, they were all supposed to work in turn for a single steam turbine and a 5000 kW generator.

The construction of the nuclear power plant was led by the Obninsk Physics and Energy Laboratory. During construction, the design of an industrial reactor was taken as a basis, but instead of uranium rods, uranium fuel elements, the so-called fuel rods, were provided. The difference between them was that water flowed around the rod from the outside, and the fuel rod was a double-walled tube. Enriched uranium was located between the walls, and water flowed through the internal channel. Scientific calculations have shown that with this design it is much easier to heat it to the desired temperature. The material of the heat transfer elements had to be durable, anti-corrosion resistant and should not change its properties under prolonged exposure to radiation. At the first nuclear power plant, the control system for the processes occurring in the reactor was carefully thought out. For this purpose, devices were created for automatic and manual remote control of control rods, for emergency shutdown of the reactor, and devices for replacing fuel rods.

In addition to generating energy, the reactor at the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant also served as a base for experimental research and for the production of isotopes for medical needs. The operating experience of the first, essentially experimental, nuclear power plant fully confirmed the engineering and technical solutions proposed by nuclear industry specialists, which made it possible to begin implementing a large-scale program for the construction of new nuclear power plants in the Soviet Union.

In May 1954, the reactor was launched, and in June of the same year, the Obninsk nuclear power plant produced the first industrial current, opening the way for the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. Obninsk NPP has operated successfully for almost 48 years.

April 29, 2002 at 11:31 a.m. Moscow time, the reactor of the world's first nuclear power plant in Obninsk was shut down forever. According to the press service of the Ministry Russian Federation According to nuclear energy, the plant was shut down solely for economic reasons, since “maintaining it in a safe condition became more and more expensive every year.”

A nuclear energy museum was created on the basis of the Obninsk nuclear power plant.

Lit.: Velikhov E. P. From nuclear bomb to a nuclear power plant. Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov (1903-1960) // Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2003. T. 73. No. 1. P. 51-64; State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom": website. 2008-2014. URL : http://www.rosatom.ru/ ; State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation - Institute of Physics and Energy named after A. I. Leipunsky: website. 2004–2011. URL: http://www.ippe.obninsk.ru/; 10 years of the world's first nuclear power plant of the USSR. M., 1964;The world's first nuclear power plant - how it began: Sat. history-arch. doc. / Institute of Physics and Energy named after Academician A. I. Leypunovsky; [Comp. N.I. Ermolaev]. Obninsk, 1999.

We visited the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, the world's first nuclear power plant. A nuclear power plant with just one reactor AM-1 (“peaceful atom”) with a power of 5 MW produced industrial current on June 27, 1954 in the village of Obninskoye near Moscow, Kaluga region, on the territory of the so-called “laboratory B” (now the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation “ Institute of Physics and Energy named after Academician A.I. Leypunsky").

The station was built in strict secrecy, and suddenly on June 30, 1954, a TASS message was heard not only throughout the country but throughout the world, which shocked people’s imagination: “In the Soviet Union, through the efforts of scientists and engineers, work on the design and construction of the first industrial power station at nuclear energy with a useful power of 5000 kilowatts. On June 27, the nuclear power plant was put into operation and provided electricity for industry and agriculture in the surrounding areas.”

On May 9, 1954, at 19:07, the physical start-up of the reactor of the First Nuclear Power Plant took place in the presence of I.V. Kurchatov and other members of the launch commission - the chain reaction began. And only in October 1954 they reached 100% power, the turbine produced 5 thousand kW. This period of time - from physical launch to design capacity - was a period of taming " wild beast" The reactor had to be studied, its operating parameters compared with the calculated ones, and gradually brought to its design capacity.

The history of atomic energy, which began in Obninsk, has deep roots in pre-war and wartime AM - peaceful atom - this is what I.V. Kurchatov called the reactor of the First Nuclear Power Plant. The station was built in extremely short time. A little more than three years passed from the preliminary design to the power start-up. The work of the creators of the First Nuclear Power Plant was highly appreciated. A large group of participants in this work were awarded orders and medals. In 1956, D.I. Blokhintsev was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, A.K. Krasin was awarded the Order of Lenin. The Lenin Prize was awarded in 1957 to D.I. Blokhintsev. N.A. Dollezhal, A.K. Krasin and V.A. Malykh.

The operating experience of the first, essentially experimental nuclear power plant fully confirmed the engineering and technical solutions proposed by nuclear industry specialists, which made it possible to begin implementing a large-scale program for the construction of new nuclear power plants in the USSR.

Since the beginning of operation of the First Nuclear Power Plant, experimental work has been widely carried out thanks to the construction of experimental loops and channels. The regimes of water boiling directly in the tubular fuel elements of the reactor were studied, a loop was created to study heat transfer during boiling of the coolant, and steam was superheated in the reactor itself. Analysis of operating modes with boiling and superheating of steam provided the basis for the design of large power reactors for the Beloyarsk, Bilibino, Leningrad nuclear power plants and many others.

The tour was led by the station's oldest employee. He's been here since the day he was founded.

The extensive technical experience acquired through the operation of the First NPP and extensive experimental material served as the foundation for the further development of nuclear energy. This was intended, and this was facilitated by the design features of the Obninsk NPP reactor. They provided greater experimental capabilities of the reactor with good neutronic parameters.

The reactor design provides four horizontal channels for materials science purposes. Two were used to produce artificial radioactive isotopes and two were used to study the effect of neutron irradiation on the properties of various materials.

One of the horizontal channels removed from the reactor core was used to study the atomic-crystalline and magnetic structures of solids using the neutron diffraction method. The results of studies of the crystalline and magnetic structures of chromium, carried out on a neutron diffractometer, received general recognition and were qualified as a scientific discovery.

Thus, the reactor of the First Nuclear Power Plant became one of the main research reactor bases. At its design experimental installations and at the newly created 17 experimental loops, the production of isotope products was organized, neutronic measurements were carried out in the field of solid state physics, reactor materials science and other complex studies up to last day station operation.

Sensational reports in the media around the world about the launch of the First Nuclear Power Plant aroused special interest in the great achievement of science and technology in the Soviet Union. This interest especially increased among the scientific world and state leaders after the First Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in the fall of 1955. D.I. Blokhintsev made a report. Contrary to established rules The end of the report was met with a storm of applause.

Remote controller.

Soon after the start-up, the nuclear power plant became available to the general public. The British Atomic Energy Authority delegation expressed its admiration for the work of Professor Blokhintsev and his colleagues in a guest book. The GDR delegation left a note that it considered visiting the nuclear power plant a great honor. The German physicist Hertz wrote in his guest book: “I have already heard and read a lot about nuclear power plants, but what I saw here exceeded all my expectations...”.

Among the guests, in different time who visited the Obninsk NPP were outstanding scientists, political and public figures: D. Nehru and I. Gandhi, A. Sukarno, W. Ulbricht, Kim Il Sung, I. Broz Tito, F. Joliot-Curie, G. Seaborg, F. Perrin, 3. Eklund, G. K. Zhukov, Yu.A. Gagarin, members of the government of our country - G.M. Malenkov, L.M. Kaganovich, V.M. Molotov and many others.

During the first 20 years of operation, about 60 thousand people visited the First Nuclear Power Plant.

Deployment of the remote control.

The red button AZ (Emergency Protection) was pressed only once in 2002. She shut down the reactor.

Everything has its own life expectancy, gradually wears out and becomes obsolete morally and physically. Over 48 years of accident-free operation, the First Nuclear Power Plant has exhausted its service life, having served 18 years longer than planned.

17h. 45 min. June 26, 1954 - steam was supplied to the turbine.
June 27, 1954 – commissioning of the First Nuclear Power Plant, reported by the newspaper Pravda.
11 hours 31 minutes April 29, 2002 - the station was stopped, the chain reaction was stopped.

Currently, the Obninsk NPP is decommissioned. Its reactor was shut down on April 29, 2002, after successfully operating for almost 48 years. The station was stopped solely for economic reasons, since maintaining it in a safe condition became more and more expensive every year, the station had long been on government subsidies, and the research work carried out at it and the production of isotopes for the needs of Russian medicine covered only about 10% of operating costs. At the same time, initially the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy planned to shut down the nuclear power plant reactor only by 2005, after the 50-year resource had been exhausted.

Reactor hall.

Reactor, some of the protective plates have been removed.

Rods with spent fuel are immersed here.

Control panel for a crane carrying spent fuel rods. The operator looks through quartz glass about 50 cm thick.

IN last years During the work of the nuclear power plant, she was lovingly called “the old lady.” She truly became a mother and grandmother to the next generations of nuclear power plants, more powerful and advanced ones. Under the scientific leadership of IPPE, the First NPP was built, and then, with its participation, important and well-known objects were created: the transportable nuclear power plant TPP-3, experimental fast reactors at IPPE - BR-5, BR-10 and BOR-60 in Dimitrovgrad, transport nuclear power plants with liquid metal coolant for nuclear submarines, the world's first fast neutron power reactor with sodium cooling BN-350, nuclear power plant with a fast neutron reactor BN-600 - 3rd unit of the Beloyarsk station, Bilibino ATPP, operating in the Far North in the variable loads of heat and electricity, space reactor-converters of the “Topaz” and “Buk” types.

And this picture shows quite accurately how work went on at the station.

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Photos taken by Moi and Dima

It's always nice to be the first in something. Likewise, our country, while still part of the USSR, turned out to be the first in many endeavors. A striking example is the construction of a nuclear power plant. It is clear that many people were involved in its development and construction. But still, the world's first nuclear power plant was located in what is now Russia.

Background to the emergence of nuclear power plants

It began with the use of the atom for military purposes. Before the world's first nuclear power plant was built, many doubted that nuclear energy could be used for peaceful purposes.

First the atomic bomb was created. Everyone knows the sad experience of using it in Japan. Then a test was carried out at the test site atomic bomb, created by Soviet scientists.

After some time, the USSR began to produce plutonium in an industrial reactor. All conditions have been created for the production of enriched uranium on a large scale.

It was at this time, in the fall of 1949, that active discussions began on how to organize an enterprise in which nuclear energy would be used to generate electricity and heat.

Theoretical development and creation of the project was entrusted to Laboratory “B”. At that time it was headed by D.I. Blokhintsev. The Scientific Council, under its leadership, proposed a nuclear reactor that would run on enriched uranium. Beryllium was used as a moderator. Cooling was carried out using helium. Other reactor options were also considered. For example, using fast and intermediate neutrons. Other cooling methods were also allowed.

In the spring of 1950, a resolution of the Council of Ministers was issued. It stated that it was necessary to build three experimental reactors:

• the first is uranium-graphite with water cooling;
• the second was helium-graphite, which was supposed to use gas cooling;
• the third is uranium-beryllium, also with a gas cooler.

The remainder of the current year was allotted for the creation of the technical project. Using these three reactors, the power of the world's first nuclear power plant was about 5000 kW.

Where and by whom were they created?

Of course, in order to erect these buildings, it was necessary to decide on the location. Thus, the first nuclear power plant in the world was built in the city of Obninsk.

Construction work was entrusted to the Khimmash Research Institute. At that moment it was led by N. Dollezhal. By education, he is a civil chemist who was far from nuclear physics. But still, his knowledge turned out to be useful during the construction of structures.

Through joint efforts, and a little later several other institutes got involved in the work, the world's first nuclear power plant was built. There is more than one creator. There are many of them, because such a large-scale project cannot be created alone. But the main developer is called Kurchatov, and the builder is Dollezhal.

Construction progress and launch preparations

In parallel with the creation of the world's first nuclear power plant, stands were developed in the laboratory. They were prototypes that were later used on nuclear submarines.

In the summer of 1950 they began preparatory work. They lasted for one year. The result of all the work was the very first nuclear power plant in the world. Its original design has remained virtually unchanged.

The following adjustments have been made:

• the uranium-beryllium reactor was created with a lead-bismuth cooler;
• The helium-graphite reactor was replaced by a water-water reactor, which formed the basis of all subsequent nuclear power plants, and was also used on icebreakers and submarines.

In June 1951, a decree was issued to build an experimental power plant. At the same time, all the necessary materials for the uranium-graphite reactor were delivered. And in July, construction of a water-cooled nuclear power plant began.

The first launch providing electricity to populated areas

The loading of the reactor core began in May 1954. Namely the 9th. In the evening of the same day, a chain reaction began in it. uranium occurred in such a way that it was self-supporting. This was the so-called physical launch of the station.

A month and a half later, in June 1954, the power start-up of the nuclear power plant was carried out. This consisted in the fact that steam was supplied to the turbogenerator. The world's first nuclear power plant started operating on June 26 at half past five in the evening. It functioned for 48 years. Its role was to give impetus to the emergence of similar power plants around the world.

The next day, electric current was given to the city of the world's first nuclear power plant (1954) - to Obninsk near Moscow.

Push for other nuclear power plants around the world

It had a relatively small power, only 5 MW. One loading of the reactor was enough for it to operate at full power for 3 months.

And despite this, it attracted the attention of people from all over the world. Numerous delegations came to the city of the world's first nuclear power plant. Their goal was to see with their own eyes the miracle created Soviet people. In order to obtain electricity, you do not need to use a turbine generator without coal, oil or gas. And the nuclear power plant provided electricity to a city with a population of about 40 thousand people. At the same time, only its quantity was consumed equal to 2 tons per year.

This circumstance became the impetus for the construction of similar stations almost all over the world. Their power was enormous. And yet the beginning was here - in small Obninsk, where the atom became a hard worker, throwing off his military uniform.

When did the nuclear power plant stop working?

The first nuclear power plant in Russia was shut down in 2002 on April 29. There were economic prerequisites for this. Its power wasn't big enough.

During her work, data were obtained that confirmed all theoretical calculations. All technical and engineering solutions were justified.

This made it possible to launch the Beloyarsk NPP within 10 years (1964). Moreover, its power was 50 times greater than that of Obninsk.

Where else are nuclear reactors used?

In parallel with the creation of the nuclear power plant, a group led by Kurchatov designed a nuclear reactor that could be installed on an icebreaker. This task was as important as providing electricity without using gas and coal.

The USSR, as well as Russia, was as important as possible big time extend navigation in the seas that lie to the north. Nuclear icebreakers could provide year-round navigation in these territories.

Such developments began in 1953, and six years later it was sent on its first voyage. nuclear icebreaker"Lenin". He regularly served in the Arctic for 30 years.

No less important was the creation of a nuclear submarine. And she was launched in 1957. At the same time, this submarine made a trip under the ice to North Pole and returned to base. The name of this submarine was “Leninsky Komsomol”.

Impact of nuclear power plants on the environment

This question interested people already when the first nuclear power plant in the world was built in the city of Obninsk. It is now known that the impact on the environment is carried out in three directions:

Thermal emissions;

A gas that is also radioactive;

Liquids around nuclear power plants.

Moreover, the release of radiation occurs even during normal operation of the reactors. Such constant flows of radioactive substances into environment occur under the control of NPP personnel. They then spread in the air and soil, penetrating plants and the bodies of animals and people.

It is worth noting that not only nuclear power plants are a source of radiation waste. Medicine, science, industry and Agriculture also contribute their share to the overall standings. All waste must be neutralized in a special way. And then they are subject to burial.

nuclear power plant.

In the fall of 1949, after a successful test, when plutonium was already produced at the first industrial reactor, when the production of enriched uranium was organized and mastered on an industrial scale, an active discussion began on the problems and directions for creating power nuclear reactors for transport use and generating electricity and heat.
In June 1950, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Dmitry Ivanovich Blokhintsev was appointed director of Laboratory "B". In December of the same year, the Academic Council was created to train highly qualified scientific personnel. The council included: A.I. Leypunsky, D.I. Blokhintsev, N.V. Ageev, O.D. Kazachkovsky, A.K. Krasin, P.N. Slyusarev, P.D. Gorbachev.
Laboratory “B” proposed a reactor based on enriched uranium with a beryllium moderator and helium cooling for energy applications; it was also planned to develop reactors using fast and intermediate neutrons with various cooling, including liquid metal.
The Resolution of the Council of Ministers of May 16, 1950 determined the construction of three experimental reactors (uranium-graphite with water cooling, uranium-graphite with gas cooling and uranium-beryllium with gas or liquid metal cooling). According to the original plan, they were all supposed to work in turn on a single steam turbine and generator with a capacity of 5000 kW.
Technical projects should have been completed in 1950. Thus began the creation of the First Nuclear Power Plant and prototype stands for power plants of nuclear submarines. By order
the head of the PSU dated 08.08.1950, the director of Laboratory “B” D.I. Blokhintsev undertook to begin preparatory work. In general terms, the design of the reactor at the First NPP remained close to what was originally proposed. The beryllium-moderated reactor was implemented with lead-bismuth cooling, uranium-beryllium fuel and an intermediate neutron spectrum. Instead of a helium-graphite reactor, a pressurized water reactor was created - the main type for submarines and icebreakers, as well as future nuclear power plants. On June 12, 1951, a Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued on the construction of an experimental electric power station (installation V-10) on the territory of Laboratory “B”.
At the suggestion of I.V. Kurchatov, on June 27, 1951, all available design materials for a water-cooled uranium-graphite reactor were transferred to Laboratory “B”. On July 12, 1951, by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Laboratory “B” was entrusted with the task of developing and constructing water-cooled nuclear power plants.
On May 9, 1954, the laboratory began loading the nuclear power plant reactor core with fuel.
channels. When introducing the 61st fuel channel, a critical state was reached at 19:40. A self-sustaining chain reaction of fission of uranium nuclei began in the reactor. The physical start-up of the nuclear power plant took place.
On June 26, 1954, at 17:30, the steam supply valve to the turbogenerator was opened and the generator was synchronized with the Mosenergo network. The world's first nuclear power plant was put into operation, which operated for 48 years and opened the way to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
On June 27, 1954, the world's first nuclear power plant with a 5 MW AM-1 reactor (Atom Peaceful) produced industrial current and opened the way to the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, successfully operating for almost 48 years.
On April 29, 2002, the reactor of the first nuclear power plant was shut down forever. The station was closed for economic reasons. The experience of its operation fully confirmed the technical and engineering solutions proposed by industry specialists, which made it possible to carry out the construction and commissioning of the Beloyarsk NPP in 1964 with an electrical capacity of 300 MW.

This day was the coldest in the history of meteorological observations.1881 year, when the average daily temperature in Moscow was +4.1 degrees Celsius, and the warmest was in 1911 year. That day the temperature rose to +31.4 degrees.