Cooling towers for 5 and 6 reactors - one of the main attractions of the Zone

After that fateful April night in 1986, there are many interesting objects in ChEZ. These include (cooling towers) for the fifth and sixth reactors of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which were practically completed and were to be put into operation at the end of 1986. But these two twin brothers remained unfinished forever, and now they personify the bygone era of the USSR.

Cooling towers

Cooling towers were intended for additional cooling of water in the cooling pond the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was this water that was to be supplied to the fifth and sixth reactors in the future, because the available resources were no longer sufficient for the new reactor capacity. The cooling pond was created artificially and covers an area of approximately 24 square kilometers. This pond served as a cooling system for cooling the first and fourth units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. An interesting fact is that the water level in the cooling pond is six meters higher than in the river Pripyat, therefore constantly they had to pump water into this pond with pumps. Given that such a procedure would be costly, it was decommissioned.

In the case of cooling towers, their principle of operation is quite common and is that the water is cooled by means of a directed flow of atmospheric air. The dimensions of the cooling tower are also quite large, it was supposed to be 150 meters high and 126 meters in diameter. For example, the height of the secret object "Duga-1" (Soviet strategic over-the-horizon (OTH) radar) is also 150 meters.

Affirmations of experts

Some experts have argued that cold stores will only be appropriate in the warm season, and cold stores will be turned off in winter. But in any case, these unfinished objects will never be used for their intended purpose and will only remain as a memorial to the Chernobyl accident.