Lesnoy (russian: Лесно́й) is a
closed 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 ...
in
Sverdlovsk Oblast,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, located north of
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...
on the banks of the
Tura River
The Tura (), also known as Dolgaya (Long River, ) is a historically important Siberian river which flows eastward from the central Ural Mountains into the Tobol, a part of the Ob basin. The main town on it is Tyumen.
Description
From about 1 ...
. Population:
History
It was founded in 1947 when Plant 418 was constructed to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU) for the production of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons were also assembled there. In 1954, it became the closed town of Sverdlovsk-45 to support production of nuclear weapons.
['' Making the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin'', Cochran, Thomas et al., Westview Press, 1995.]
Sverdlovsk-45 remained secret until
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
decreed in 1992 that such places could use their historical names; the town had not appeared on official maps until then.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the
framework of the administrative divisions, it is, together with one
work settlement and three
rural localities, incorporated as the
closed administrative-territorial formation
A closed city or closed town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied so that specific authorization is required to visit or remain overnight. Such places may be sensitive military establishments or secret research ins ...
of Lesnoy
—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the
districts.
[Law #30-OZ] As a
municipal division, the closed administrative-territorial formation of Lesnoy is incorporated as Lesnoy Urban Okrug.
[Law #85-OZ]
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Sverdlovsk Oblast
Closed cities
Naukograds
1947 establishments in the Soviet Union
Populated places established in 1947