Chernobyl's Nuclear Power Plant

In the 1970s construction of the Chernobyl's nuclear power station commenced, along with the city of Pripyat which was to house the workers of the plant and their families.
It was known as the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station in soviet times, until the Cold War Disestablished the Union in 1991.
It was the first Nuclear plant on Ukrainian soil, and the third in the Soviet Union. 110 Kms from Kiev, 18 Kms from the city of Chernobyl and just 16 Kms from the border of Belarus.
The first reactor (number 1) was commissioned in 1977 followed by 3 more in 1978, 1981 and finally reactor number 4 in 1983. Each of the reactors were capable of producing 1000 megawatts of electrical power.
The almost completed reactor number 5 (scheduled start in the Autumn of 1986) and planned reactor 6 were pulled from construction after the 1986 accident in number 4.
Unique to the Soviet Union, the Chernobyl plant had been designed and constructed using RBMK technology (reaktor bolshoy moshchnosti kanalniy) or (High Power Channel Type Reactor). There are at least 12 such plants in operation in Russia and Lithuania today.
Criticised by most scientists outside the Soviet Union, the Chernobyl station was considered a model plant at the time, hence the plans to extend it and the proposed building of several more RBMK sites. However, Western Nuclear experts question this type of reactor mainly because it lacks adequate structural containment and it requires large amounts of combustible graphite within its core.