ABSTRACT
The Soviet Union lays claim to the development of the first civilian nuclear power station at Obninsk, a nuclear research station near Moscow, in 1954. The original civilian nuclear reactor developed at Obninsk was of the channel type based on a graphite moderator. The explosion at the fourth Chernobyl reactor released over 50 million curies of radioactivity into the earth’s atmosphere, encompassing between 3.5 and 10 percent of the reactor core. The recovery of the nuclear industry in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States has been quite remarkable. Nineteen ninety-three was the pivotal year for the Ukrainian nuclear power industry. Unfortunately, the Chernobyl story is far from over. At the time of writing it appeared to be inconceivable that the Russian government would allocate such funding. Despite the world’s worst nuclear accident, nuclear power in the territories of the former Soviet Union today is less safe than it was in 1986.
