On September 16, 1999, a powerful truck bomb exploded outside an apartment building, killing 17 people and injuring a further 69.

It is home to the Atommash factory, which manufactures nuclear reactors and related heavy machinery.

The plant mainly builds Rosatom's VVER type pressurized water reactors both for domestic use and export.

Four such reactors (VVER-1000 model) generated about 26 600 GWh of electricity at the Rostov nuclear power plant, located just 18 km from the city center.

There are six art schools, two museums, seventeen historical and cultural sites, and three buildings recognized as architectural monuments of regional importance (Cossacks, Peaceful Atom).