Miracle or Madness?
The Leningrad Nuclear Power Station and the Soviet Nuclear Industry
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Twenty years after Chernobyl, Russia’s nuclear supervisory authority has extended the Leningrad nuclear power station’s operating license, thus allowing the oldest Chernobyl-type reactors to remain on line. This station was built near Leningrad in the early 1970s as the Soviet Union’s first large-scale nuclear power station. The ministry responsible carried out this project despite safety concerns. In addition to producing electricity, the power station probably also serves the Russian military. The power station is representative of Soviet nuclear industry and illustrates continuity in Russian nuclear policy.
(Osteuropa 4/2006, pp. 139–154)