Bilibino

Bilibino (English)
Билибино (Russian)
-  Town[1]  -

Winter fog over Bilibino

Location of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in Russia
Bilibino
Location of Bilibino in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Coordinates: 68°03′N 166°27′E / 68.050°N 166.450°E / 68.050; 166.450Coordinates: 68°03′N 166°27′E / 68.050°N 166.450°E / 68.050; 166.450
Coat of arms of Bilibino and Bilibinsky District
Administrative status (as of June 2012)
Country Russia
Federal subject Chukotka Autonomous Okrug[1]
Administrative district Bilibinsky District[1]
Administrative center of Bilibinsky District[1]
Municipal status (as of October 2010)
Municipal district Bilibinsky Municipal District[2]
Urban settlement Bilibino Urban Settlement[2]
Administrative center of Bilibinsky Municipal District,[2] Bilibino Urban Settlement[2]
Head[3] Svetlana Tolstaya[3]
Statistics
Area 22.15 km2 (8.55 sq mi)[4]
Population (2010 Census) 5,506 inhabitants[5]
Population (January 2015 est.) 5,592 inhabitants[6]
Density (October 2012) 248/km2 (640/sq mi)[4]
Time zone PETT (UTC+12:00)[7]
Founded March 1955[4]
Town status since June 28, 1993[4]
Postal code(s)[8] 689450
Dialing code(s) +7 42738
Bilibino on Wikimedia Commons

Bilibino (Russian: Били́бино) is a town and the administrative center of Bilibinsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located at the confluence of the Karalveyem and Bolshoy Keperveyem Rivers (Kolyma's basin), 625 kilometers (388 mi) northwest of Anadyr, the administrative center of the autonomous okrug. With a population of 5,506 as of the 2010 Census, and an estimated population as of 1 January 2015 of 5,592, it is the second largest town in the autonomous okrug after Anadyr.[5]

Geography

Aerial view of Bilibino

Bilibino is located at the transition zone between the conifer forest and the tundra, in the Chuvan Mountains.

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, 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.[9]

Interest in the area around the present day site of the town began in the 1920s when prospectors including Soviet geologist Yury Bilibin discovered gold in the region and began to make assessments regarding the commercial viability of its extraction.[10] In March 1955, gold mining operations commenced and the construction of a settlement started,[4] though at this stage it was little more than a collection of geologists' and prospectors' tents, who had originally been based in Seymchan.[10] Because of his discovery of gold in the region, particularly within the vicinity of the Bolshoy Anyuy and Maly Anyuy Rivers, the geologists named the new settlement after Yury Bilibin, and the new name was officially adopted in February 1956.[4] On September 6, 1958, Bilibino was granted urban-type settlement status.[4]

Bilibino's development intensified in the early 1960s when it was joined to the Pevek power gird. On August 2, 1961, Bilibino became the administrative center of the district which was renamed Bilibinsky on the occasion.[4] In 1965, the Soviet government decided to build Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant.[10] The construction aided by several hundred volunteers from the Komsomol organization was completed in 1974; by 1976 three additional reactors were put into operation.[11] Town status was granted to Bilibino on June 28, 1993.[4]

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Bilibino serves as the administrative center of Bilibinsky District,[1] to which it is directly subordinated.[12] As a municipal division, the town of Bilibino is, together with the selo of Keperveyem, incorporated within Bilibinsky Municipal District as Bilibino Urban Settlement.[2]

Economy

The town is home to the world's northernmost nuclear power plant[13] which opened in January 1974.[11] The Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant is the only nuclear power plant in the Russian Far East and has four reactors, each with an output of 12 MWe.[11] An update program is in place to guarantee the running of the power station until at least 2018.[11]

Gold mining was discontinued in Bilibino. The nearest operating gold mine is located 20 kilometers (12 mi) west of the town.

Transportation

The region where Bilibino is located has virtually no roads that are usable year-round; even a trip from the Keperveyem Airport to Bilibino town requires a 40-kilometer (25 mi) journey along an unpaved road.[9] There is also an unpaved road to the seaport of Zelyony Mys on the Kolyma River near Chersky in the Sakha Republic (around 250 km). Heavier transports use this road. There is a winter-only ice road between Pevek and Bilibino.

Demographics

In a typical development for the post-Soviet era in the Russian Far East, Bilibino's population dropped significantly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. During the 1989 Soviet Census, the population of Bilibino was 15,558;[14] it fell to 6,181 in the 2002 Census[15] and further down to 5,506 in the 2010 Russian Census.[5] As of January 2010, the ethnic make up of the town was mostly Russians (71%) and Ukrainians (15%); Chukchi people and Evens accounted for 6% and 3%, correspondingly; with all other ethnicities accounting for less than 1% each.

Climate

Bilibino has an arctic climate (ET) according to the Köppen climate classification.[16]

Climate data for Bilibino
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) −27.5
(−17.5)		 −27.8
(−18)		 −23.1
(−9.6)		 −12.9
(8.8)		 0.5
(32.9)		 13.1
(55.6)		 15.8
(60.4)		 12.3
(54.1)		 4.9
(40.8)		 −9.0
(15.8)		 −22.2
(−8)		 −27.6
(−17.7)		 −8.63
(16.47)
Daily mean °C (°F) −32.4
(−26.3)		 −32.7
(−26.9)		 −28.7
(−19.7)		 −18.8
(−1.8)		 −4.1
(24.6)		 7.0
(44.6)		 9.6
(49.3)		 6.6
(43.9)		 0.0
(32)		 −13.6
(7.5)		 −26.9
(−16.4)		 −32.3
(−26.1)		 −13.86
(7.06)
Average low °C (°F) −37.3
(−35.1)		 −37.5
(−35.5)		 −34.3
(−29.7)		 −24.6
(−12.3)		 −8.6
(16.5)		 0.9
(33.6)		 3.4
(38.1)		 0.9
(33.6)		 −4.9
(23.2)		 −18.1
(−0.6)		 −31.5
(−24.7)		 −37.0
(−34.6)		 −19.05
(−2.29)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 15
(0.59)		 9
(0.35)		 6
(0.24)		 6
(0.24)		 7
(0.28)		 21
(0.83)		 37
(1.46)		 34
(1.34)		 18
(0.71)		 14
(0.55)		 17
(0.67)		 14
(0.55)		 198
(7.81)
Source: [17]

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Law #33-OZ
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Law #43-OZ
  3. 1 2 Official website of Bilibinsky District. About the District. Urban and Rural Settlements (Russian)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Official website of Bilibinsky District. General Description of the Town of Bilibino (Russian)
  5. 1 2 3 Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1" [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  6. ↑ Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Territorial Branch of the Federal State Statistics Service. Численность постоянного населения Чукотского автономного округа по муниципальным образованиям на 1 января 2015 года (Russian)
  7. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Федеральный закон №107-ФЗ от 3 июня 2011 г. «Об исчислении времени», в ред. Федерального закона №248-ФЗ от 21 июля 2014 г. «О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об исчислении времени"». Вступил в силу по истечении шестидесяти дней после дня официального опубликования (6 августа 2011 г.). Опубликован: "Российская газета", №120, 6 июня 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Federal Law #107-FZ of June 31, 2011 On Calculating Time, as amended by the Federal Law #248-FZ of July 21, 2014 On Amending Federal Law "On Calculating Time". Effective as of after sixty days following the day of the official publication.).
  8. ↑ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (Russian)
  9. 1 2 Petit Fute. Chukotka, p. 100
  10. 1 2 3 Petit Fute. Chukotka, pp. 102f
  11. 1 2 3 4 Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP). Nuclear Transparency in the Asia Pacific. Bilibino Power Station
  12. ↑ Directive #517-rp
  13. ↑ Nuttall, Mark. Encyclopedia of the Arctic. Routledge. p. 241. ISBN 1-57958-436-5.
  14. ↑ Demoscope Weekly (1989). "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров" [All Union Population Census of 1989: Present Population of Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Oblasts and Okrugs, Krais, Oblasts, Districts, Urban Settlements, and Villages Serving as District Administrative Centers]. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года [All-Union Population Census of 1989] (in Russian). Институт демографии Национального исследовательского университета: Высшая школа экономики [Institute of Demography at the National Research University: Higher School of Economics]. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  15. ↑ Russian Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек" [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian). Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  16. ↑ McKnight and Hess, pp. 232–235
  17. ↑ "Climate: Bilibino". Retrieved April 10, 2014.

Sources

External links

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