Gorky Nuclear Heating Plant, Unfinished nuclear station in Kstovsky District, Russia.
Gorky Nuclear Heating Plant is an incomplete atomic facility near Fedyakovo with reactor buildings and support structures originally planned for thermal energy generation. The massive concrete shells stand partially finished, displaying various stages of construction across the grounds.
Construction began in the 1980s as a Soviet response to growing thermal energy demand in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Progress reached approximately 85 percent before halting after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, with work never resuming afterward.
The site represents Soviet-era ambitions in nuclear energy and how safety fears reshaped large industrial projects. Today visitors encounter an abandoned space that reflects the hopes and concerns of an entire period.
The facility sits several kilometers east of Nizhny Novgorod city limits near shopping centers and major transportation corridors. Be aware that the grounds remain difficult to access and prior permission or arrangements may be necessary.
After abandonment, portions of the facility were temporarily converted into a distillery and bottling operation by local entrepreneurs. This unusual repurposing of a nuclear site reveals the resourceful adaptations people in the region had to make following the Soviet collapse.
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