Seversk

This article is about the closed city in Tomsk Oblast. For the city in Donetsk Oblast, see Siversk.
Seversk (English)
Северск (Russian)
-  City[1]  -

Kurchatova Street in Seversk

Location of Tomsk Oblast in Russia
Seversk
Location of Seversk in Tomsk Oblast
Coordinates: 56°36′N 84°51′E / 56.600°N 84.850°E / 56.600; 84.850Coordinates: 56°36′N 84°51′E / 56.600°N 84.850°E / 56.600; 84.850
Coat of arms
Flag
Administrative status (as of April 2011)
Country Russia
Federal subject Tomsk Oblast[1]
Administratively subordinated to Seversk City Under Oblast Jurisdiction[1]
Administrative center of Seversk City Under Oblast Jurisdiction[1]
Municipal status (as of March 2011)
Urban okrug Seversk Urban Okrug[2]
Administrative center of Seversk Urban Okrug[2]
Mayor Grigory Shamin
Statistics
Population (2010 Census) 108,590 inhabitants[3]
- Rank in 2010 149th
Time zone OMST (UTC+06:00)[4]
Founded 1949
City status since 1956
Previous names Pyaty Pochtovy (until 1949),
Tomsk-7 (until 1954)
Postal code(s)[5] 636000
Dialing code(s) +7 3823
Official website
Seversk on Wikimedia Commons

Seversk (Russian: Се́верск) is a closed city in Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) northwest of Tomsk on the right bank of the Tom River. Population: 108,590 (2010 Census);[3] 109,106 (2002 Census);[6]

History

Founded in 1949, it was known as Pyaty Pochtovy (Пя́тый Почто́вый, lit. the Fifth Postal) until 1954 and as Tomsk-7 (Томск-7) until 1992. Town status was granted to it in 1956.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with five rural localities, incorporated as Seversk City Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.[1] As a municipal division, Seversk City Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Seversk Urban Okrug.[2]

Economy

Seversk is the site of the Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises, founded in 1954. It comprises several nuclear reactors and chemical plants for separation, enrichment, and reprocessing of uranium and plutonium. Following an agreement in March 2003 between Russia and the United States to shut down Russia's three remaining plutonium-producing reactors, two of the three plutonium producing reactors (the two that are sited at Seversk) have now been shut down.[7][8]

Nuclear warheads are produced and stored on the premises. One of the most serious nuclear accidents at SGCE occurred on April 6, 1993, when a tank containing a highly radioactive solution exploded.

Government

The current Chair of the City Duma and Mayor is Grigory Shamin, who has served since 2010. The current city manager is Anatoly Abramov, who has served since August 2007.

Secret city

Central entry checkpoint

Seversk was a secret city in the Soviet Union until President Boris Yeltsin decreed in 1992 that such cities could use their historical names. The town appeared on no official maps until then. As was the tradition with Soviet towns containing secret facilities, the designation "Tomsk-7" (like its predecessor "Pyaty Pochtovy") is simply a postal code which implies that the place is located close to the city of Tomsk.

For many years, residents had restrictions to enter or leave the city. Upon leaving Seversk, residents had to surrender their special entry passes at the checkpoint and were forbidden from discussing where they worked or lived. In 1987 some restrictions were lifted due to the large number of residents who worked or studied in Tomsk.

The city still remains closed to non-residents. There are six checkpoints where visitors must show entry documents. Permission to visit the city may only be granted by the appropriate authorities through the institution being visited, or through a private party such as a close relative. Prior to May 2007, visitors had to apply for entry passes at a special office in Tomsk proper. Since that date visitors can apply for entry documents directly at the main checkpoint.

Tomsk-7 explosion

There was a nuclear accident at the Tomsk-7 Reprocessing Complex on April 6, 1993, when a tank exploded while being cleaned with nitric acid. The explosion released a cloud of radioactive gas. TIME magazine has identified the Tomsk-7 explosion as one of the world's 10 "worst nuclear disasters".[9]

Culture

Nine municipal cultural and artistic institutions successfully work in Seversk, as well as four establishments of additional education for children of artistic and aesthetic focus and two organizations of other forms — a nonprofit organization "House of Culture in the name of N. Ostrovskiy" and a cinema called "Mir".

Education

There is a major post-secondary school in the city, the Seversk State Technological Academy, a branch of Tomsk Polytechnic University.

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Law #271-OZ
  2. 1 2 3 Decision #69/1
  3. 1 2 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.
  4. ↑ 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.).
  5. ↑ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (Russian)
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ "Russia shuts second plutonium-producing reactor at Seversk". World Nuclear News. 6 June 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  8. ↑ The remaining operating production reactor is sited at Zheleznogorsk in Krasnoyarsk Krai.
  9. ↑ "The Worst Nuclear Disasters". TIME. March 25, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.

Sources

External links

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