Nuclear power in the Soviet Union

Following the development, commercial power stations were constructed in Beloyarsk, Novo-Voronezh, Kola, Leningrad, and Armenia.

[3] At this point, the Soviet Union was committed to developing an aggressive nuclear power program.

The reactors were ordered and administered, however by the Ministry of Energy and Electrification (Minenergo), which was in charge of power production and plant operation.

The differences in institutional culture, priorities, and expertise between these two industries have been argued to be core to understanding the choices made by the Soviet Union in the field of nuclear power, notably in its embrace of the controversial RBMK reactor design, which was developed with a priority on ease of local construction, economical value, and the possibility (never implemented) for dual-use plutonium production — with core safety concerns being either de-prioritized or kept secret.

4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant causing an explosion within the core that destroyed the reactor itself, and vented radioactive materials into the atmosphere and surrounding environment, causing dozens of immediate deaths related to the containment of the accident, and potentially tens of thousands of later deaths from cancer.