Intro
I thought I would post some pics of this for historical records, since it was such a cool site.
Pics were taken on 35mm (B&W and colour film) and scanned in, so I don't have a lot of them unfortunately.
History
The Juragua Nuclear Power Plant in Cuba was started in 1983 which included two light pressurized water (PWR) VVER-440 V318 reactors and were part of a larger plan for a series of plants around the island. Initial completion date was 1993, but this was delayed due to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Negotiations were attempted with other companies, but Cuba was unable to commit to payment and work on the plant stopped in 1993. It was reportedly quite close to being completed, which is quite sad as it could have really improved the lives of many Cubans. It is estimated that over 1 billion dollars was invested in the project. In 1997, it was officially announced that Cuba would not be completing the project and it has remained there ever since.
Over the years, various attempts to revive the project have failed, so this will probably continue to slowly crumble away. When I visited it still seemed in decent shape, but but it looks to have deteriorated quite a bit in some recent pics.
The Explore
It was tricky to get to since there was no public transport, so I had to hitch. The highlight was that somebody with a motorcycle sidecar picked me up on the way back.
I would love to weave an intricate, exciting story about exploring the site, but the truth is quite boring. I walked past a sleeping guard and headed straight for the main reactor building. I was able to snap a few pics and quickly wander around the site before being asked to leave.
Photos
I thought I would post some pics of this for historical records, since it was such a cool site.
Pics were taken on 35mm (B&W and colour film) and scanned in, so I don't have a lot of them unfortunately.
History
The Juragua Nuclear Power Plant in Cuba was started in 1983 which included two light pressurized water (PWR) VVER-440 V318 reactors and were part of a larger plan for a series of plants around the island. Initial completion date was 1993, but this was delayed due to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Negotiations were attempted with other companies, but Cuba was unable to commit to payment and work on the plant stopped in 1993. It was reportedly quite close to being completed, which is quite sad as it could have really improved the lives of many Cubans. It is estimated that over 1 billion dollars was invested in the project. In 1997, it was officially announced that Cuba would not be completing the project and it has remained there ever since.
Over the years, various attempts to revive the project have failed, so this will probably continue to slowly crumble away. When I visited it still seemed in decent shape, but but it looks to have deteriorated quite a bit in some recent pics.
The Explore
It was tricky to get to since there was no public transport, so I had to hitch. The highlight was that somebody with a motorcycle sidecar picked me up on the way back.
I would love to weave an intricate, exciting story about exploring the site, but the truth is quite boring. I walked past a sleeping guard and headed straight for the main reactor building. I was able to snap a few pics and quickly wander around the site before being asked to leave.
Photos
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