The story of a place that emerged from nothing on the banks of the Dnipro River, and of the people who, through all the bizarre historical changes around them, continue to guard the largest nuclear power plant in Europe
As the world debates the threat posed by the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant—currently under shellfire—we take a look back at calmer times in this region, several decades ago.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe is, contrary to what its name might suggest, not located in the city of Zaporizhzhia, but in a city about 50 kilometers downstream along the mighty Dnipro River. On the southern bank of the Dnipro lies the city of Energodar (meaning “Gift of Energy”). This is where the gigantic nuclear power plant is located. Just “across the river” (though it’s a wide river—around 10 kilometers across) is the city of Nikopol. Today, the entire southern bank of the Dnipro (from Zaporizhzhia to the Black Sea) is under Russian military control.
But how did Energodar even come to be? The name itself suggests it was built around the power plant—and that’s partly true.
The city, or rather a settlement at the time, was founded in 1970. Before that, there was nothing here—just a sandy peninsula. But Energodar wasn’t originally built for a nuclear plant—at least not right away. The initial plan was to build a thermal power plant, and the settlement developed around that. In fact, the settlement didn’t even have a name for its first two years.
The residents—mainly workers from the thermal plant, engineers, and their families—chose the name Energodar for their then-unnamed community on November 23, 1972.
The settlement began to grow quickly: schools, kindergartens, residential zones, and soon even Hotel Energodar were built. By 1985, the population surpassed 50,000 and the settlement officially gained city status.
Energy infrastructure expanded rapidly, and residential zones kept pace. Every year, over a thousand families received keys to new apartments. In 1974, construction began on a large hospital, a sewer system, recreational areas in nearby forests, and parks.
It truly was a city born from nothing, gaining everything you’d expect of a modern Soviet-era town within just a few years. Soon came a river port, a railway station, and a bus terminal.
As the children of plant workers grew up, the city built high schools, youth centers, swimming pools, exhibition halls, and museums.
It was a textbook example of Soviet-style planned urban development. And life was good—authorities made serious efforts to provide everything workers needed, and mostly succeeded.
By the early ’70s, where there was once nothing, a bustling town stood—one that was about to become famous across Europe and the Soviet Union. In 1978, it was decided that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, would be built here.
Construction lasted nearly the entire 1980s, with the fifth reactor going online in 1989. The sixth and final reactor was activated in the mid-1990s, now under independent Ukraine.
When the nuclear plant became operational, it symbolized progress. At one point, it produced a third of all electricity in Ukraine (today, it provides about a fifth).
But how did the collapse of the USSR affect Energodar, considering it was so thoroughly a Soviet creation? While not a “closed city” in the strictest sense (it was on maps), Energodar shared many traits with such cities.
Yes, workers had access to shops, markets, and cultural life—but the city was isolated, self-contained, and different from typical Ukrainian cities. The majority of its 50,000+ residents worked in the energy sector, were experts in their fields, and lived by a particular logic, rule, or order.
That world changed drastically with the fall of the USSR. People whose lives revolved around the plant now faced upheaval at every level.
Renata Kosc-Harmatiy from the Kennan Institute (USA) visited Energodar in 1999 and described a surreal atmosphere.
“The Cold War ended about a decade ago, but the news hasn’t reached remote settlements, nostalgic elderly citizens, or nuclear cities in post-Soviet countries—especially Ukraine. These places are politically and economically stagnant…
The people—who had come to work here from across the former USSR—often didn’t know what passports they should have, or whether they could visit family now living abroad.
Local authorities controlled the media, leaving residents uninformed about controversial issues or accumulating social problems.
I spent two unforgettable weeks in Energodar in 1999. Locals told me their greatest fear wasn’t radiation—despite using little protective equipment and the radiation being poorly monitored. Their biggest fear was drugs, alcohol, and their children ‘escaping’ to another world, like the capital, Kyiv.”
You can clearly picture the confusion and disorientation even at the end of the 20th century. The changes were so immense that many lifelong residents of Energodar were left unsure about their own future.
Kosc-Harmatiy also noted poor transportation links, extremely low wages, and in some cases, unpaid salaries.
It’s been nearly 25 years since her visit, but how much has really changed? Energodar remains a nuclear city, frozen in time, while the social and urban energy that once defined it has significantly declined. Yet the plant still requires constant supervision.
Information about the city today is scarce, even in Ukrainian sources. A 2010 report (a decade after Renata’s visit) noted that both the nuclear and thermal power plants were still operating—but the thermal plant was running at greatly reduced capacity due to lack of funding.
It’s not hard to imagine this “nuclear town” remaining cut off, self-focused, dedicated solely to maintaining the energy infrastructure. One can only imagine the shock when in March 2022, Russian forces occupied the area.
Yet according to available reports, the workers stayed. No one forced them out. Russians occupied their city, and they kept working, just as they did after all the previous upheavals. And really—who else could manage such a complex plant, except those who’ve been doing it for nearly four decades?
The northern bank of the Dnipro is under Ukrainian control, while the southern bank is under Russian control. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, along with the entire city of Energodar, is effectively on the front line. It is now up to those people—whose lives have truly been different from the very beginning—to try to prevent their world, once cheerfully named the “Gift of Energy,” from becoming a nightmare for the rest of the world.
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