Bilibino (russian: Били́бино) is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
and the
administrative center
An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...
of
Bilibinsky District
Bilibinsky District (russian: Били́бинский райо́н; , ''Bilibinkèn rajon'') is an administrativeLaw #33-OZ and municipalLaw #43-OZ district (raion), one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located in the west ...
in
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka (russian: Чуко́тка), officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug,, ''Čukotkakèn avtonomnykèn okrug'', is the easternmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It is an autonomous okrug situated in the Russian ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. It is located northwest of
Anadyr Anadyr may refer to:
*Anadyr (town), a town and the administrative center of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia
*Anadyr District
*Anadyr Estuary
*Anadyr (river), a river in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia
*Anadyr Highlands
*Anadyr Lowlands
*Operati ...
, the administrative center of the
autonomous okrug
Autonomous okrugs ( rus, автономный округ, ''avtonomnyy okrug''; more correctly referred to as "autonomous districts" or "autonomous areas") are a type of federal subject of the Russian Federation and simultaneously an administrati ...
. It is the second largest town in the autonomous okrug after Anadyr. Population:
Geography
The town of Bilibino was built at the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the
Karalveyem and
Bolshoy Keperveyem Rivers (
Kolyma
Kolyma (russian: Колыма́, ) is a region located in the Russian Far East. It is bounded to the north by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and by the Sea of Okhotsk to the south. The region gets its name from the Kolyma River an ...
's
basin).
Bilibino is on the transition zone between the
conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
forest and the
tundra
In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...
of the
East Siberian Mountains
The East Siberian Mountains or East Siberian Highlands ( rus, Восточно-Сибирское нагорье) are one of the largest mountain systems of the Russian Federation. They are located between the Central Yakutian Lowland and the Ber ...
, southeast of the
Pyrkanay Range (Горы Пырканай), southwest of the
Rauchuan Range (Раучуанский хребет) and north of the
Kyrganay Range
The Kyrganay Range (russian: хребет Кырганай or хребет Кыргонай) is a range of mountains in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russian Far East. Administratively the range is part of Bilibino District.
The village of Kepervey ...
and the
Chuvan Mountains
The Chuvanay Range (russian: Чуванайские Горы), also known as Chuvan Mountains (Чуванский хребет), is a range of mountains in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russian Far East. Administratively the range is part of Bilibi ...
.
[ Чуванайские горы, National atlas of Russia](_blank)
/ref>
History
As with much of the rest of Chukotka, the earliest human remains found in the region around Bilibino have been dated to the Early Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
, with camp sites having been excavated at Orlovka 2, a site on the banks of the Orlovka River, as well as at Lakes Tytyl and Ilirney.[Petit Fute. ''Chukotka'', p. 100]
Interest in the area around the present day site of the town began in the 1920s when prospector
Prospector may refer to:
Space exploration
* Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962
* '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft
Trains
* Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...
s including Soviet geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
Yuri Bilibin
Yuri Alexandrovich Bilibin (russian: Ю́рий Алекса́ндрович Били́бин; 19 May 1901 in Rostov – 4 May 1952 in Leningrad) was a Soviet geologist.
Biography
Between 1919-1921 he served in the Red Army. In 1926 he graduated f ...
(1901—1952) discovered gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
in the region and began to make assessments regarding the commercial viability of its extraction.[Petit Fute. ''Chukotka'', pp. 102f] In March 1955, gold mining operations commenced and the construction of a settlement started,[Official website of Bilibinsky District]
General Description of the Town of Bilibino
though at this stage it was little more than a collection of geologists' and prospectors' tents, who had originally been based in Seymchan. Because of his discovery of gold in the region, particularly within the vicinity of the Bolshoy Anyuy
The Bolshoy Anyuy (russian: Большой Анюй; "Great Anyuy") is a river in the Kolyma basin in Far East Siberia. Administratively most of the basin of the Bolshoy Anyuy and its tributaries belong to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia. ...
and Maly Anyuy River
The Maly Anyuy (russian: Ма́лый Аню́й; ''maly'' meaning "little") is a river in the Kolyma basin in the Russian Far East. Most of the basin of the Maly Anyuy and its tributaries belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug administrative r ...
s, the geologists named the new settlement after Yury Bilibin, and the new name was officially adopted in February 1956. On September 6, 1958, Bilibino was granted urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...
status.
Bilibino's development intensified in the early 1960s when it was joined to the Pevek
Pevek (russian: Певе́к; Chukchi: , ''Pèèkin'' / ''Pèèk'') is an Arctic port town and the administrative center of Chaunsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on Chaunskaya Bay (part of the East Siberian Sea) on a pe ...
power grid. On August 2, 1961, Bilibino became the administrative center of the Eastern Tundra District ''(Rayon Vostochnoy Tundry)'' which was renamed Bilibino District
Bilibinsky District (russian: Били́бинский райо́н; , ''Bilibinkèn rajon'') is an administrativeLaw #33-OZ and municipalLaw #43-OZ district (raion), one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located in the west ...
''(Bilibinsky Rayon)'' on the occasion. In 1965, the Soviet government decided to build the Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant
The Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant (russian: Билибинская АЭС []) is a Power station, power plant in Bilibino, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The plant is equipped with four EGP-6 reactors. The plant is the smallest and the second ...
. The construction aided by several hundred volunteers from the Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
organization was completed in 1974; by 1976 three additional reactors were put into operation.[Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP). Nuclear Transparency in the Asia Pacific]
Bilibino Power Station
Town status was granted to Bilibino on June 28, 1993.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Bilibino serves as the administrative center
An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...
of Bilibinsky District
Bilibinsky District (russian: Били́бинский райо́н; , ''Bilibinkèn rajon'') is an administrativeLaw #33-OZ and municipalLaw #43-OZ district (raion), one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located in the west ...
,[Law #33-OZ] to which it is directly subordinated.[Directive #517-rp] As a municipal division, the town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
of Bilibino is, together with the '' selo'' of Keperveyem
Keperveyem (russian: Кепервеем; Chukchi language, Chukchi: , ''Ḳèpèrvèèm'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a ''village#Russia, selo'') in Bilibinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Munic ...
, incorporated within Bilibinsky Municipal District as Bilibino Urban Settlement.[Law #43-OZ]
Economy
The town is home to the world's northernmost nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...
, the Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant
The Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant (russian: Билибинская АЭС []) is a Power station, power plant in Bilibino, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The plant is equipped with four EGP-6 reactors. The plant is the smallest and the second ...
, which opened in January 1974. It is the only nuclear power plant in the Russian Far East
and has four reactors, each with an output of 12 MWe. The plant will be progressively shut down and decommissioned, and will be replaced by the Akademik Lomonosov
''Akademik Lomonosov'' (russian: Академик Ломоносов) is a non-self-propelled power barge that operates as the first Russian floating nuclear power station. The ship was named after academician Mikhail Lomonosov. It is docked in ...
floating nuclear power plant. The first reactor was shut down at the end of 2018.
The nearest operating gold mine is located west of the tow
Transportation
The region where Bilibino is located has virtually no roads that are usable year-round; even a trip from the Keperveyem Airport
Keperveyem Airport (russian: Аэропорт Кепервеем) is an airport located in Keperveyem, in the Chukotka autonomous district of Russia. It also serves Bilibino, with which it is connected with a long gravel road.
Airlines and D ...
to Bilibino town requires a journey along an unpaved road. There is also an unpaved road to the seaport of Zelyony Mys on the Kolyma River
The Kolyma ( rus, Колыма, p=kəlɨˈma; sah, Халыма, translit=Khalyma) is a river in northeastern Siberia, whose basin covers parts of the Sakha Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and Magadan Oblast of Russia.
The Kolyma is frozen ...
near Chersky in the Sakha Republic
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...
(around 250 km). Heavier transports use this road. There is a winter-only ice road
An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Inte ...
between Pevek
Pevek (russian: Певе́к; Chukchi: , ''Pèèkin'' / ''Pèèk'') is an Arctic port town and the administrative center of Chaunsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on Chaunskaya Bay (part of the East Siberian Sea) on a pe ...
and Bilibino.
Demographics
In a typical development for the post-Soviet era in the Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...
, Bilibino's population dropped significantly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
. During the 1989 Soviet Census, the population of Bilibino was 15,558; it fell to 6,181 in the 2002 Census and further down to 5,506 in the 2010 Russian Census. As of January 2010, the ethnic make up of the town was mostly Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
(71%) and Ukrainians
Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...
(15%); Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee ( ckt, Ԓыгъоравэтԓьэт, О'равэтԓьэт, ''Ḷygʺoravètḷʹèt, O'ravètḷʹèt''), are a Siberian indigenous people native to the Chukchi Peninsula, the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Berin ...
and Evens
The Evens ( eve, эвэн; pl. , in Even and , in Russian; formerly called ''Lamuts'') are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of th ...
accounted for 6% and 3%, correspondingly; with all other ethnicities accounting for less than 1% each.
Climate
Bilibino has a subarctic climate
The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...
('' Dfc'') according to the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
.[McKnight and Hess, pp. 232–235] Summers are short and cool with chilly nights, while winters are long, dry and bitterly cold.
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
*Petit Fute. ''Chukotka''.
*
External links
Official website of Bilibino
Bilibino Business Directory
*BBC
Description of a visit to the power plant
Bilibino Photo Gallery
Short film about Bilibino
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union
Populated places established in 1955
Populated places of Arctic Russia
1955 establishments in Russia
Road-inaccessible communities of Russia