Who don’t know about Chernobyl Power Plant and it’s disaster?
It was probably the most tragic non-military moment in the East Europe history of XX century.
But do You know what was Chernobyl Power Plant used for?
Do You think that it produced energy for Ukrainian cities?
You are wrong!

Duga-3

In fact, Chernobyl produced energy for Soviet over-the-horizon radar called Russian Woodpecker because it sounded like a sharp, repetitive tapping noise, at 10 Hz. It could be heard on the shortwave radio bands worldwide.
It worked since July 1976 to December 1989, information why it was turned off is not public.
Officially, it’s called Duga-3, NATO called it Steel Yard due to it is really huge steel square antennas.

There are two antennas in Duga-3 system - transmitter and receiver.

Transmiter size: 210×80 meters.
Receiver size: 300×135 meters.

But how is it connected with Chernobyl?

Look at this map (Google Earth):

Now, let’s wonder why so important military object is placed so near nuclear power plant - it’s easy for enemy to attack the power plant to destroy the radar, isn’t it?

The problem is how to get enough energy to power Duga-3.

Duga-3 power usage

Duga-3 needed about 4 000MW. It’s hard to imagine how much is it.
Let’s compare it to New York City power needs from 2003 - about 11 000 MW.
So, this two antennas used so much energy as a half of NYC!

Now, how much Chernobyl Power Plant could produce?
There were 4 reactors (5th was nearly done when the accident happened).
Each of them could generate about… 1000 KW (1 MW).

In Wikipedia, You can read that Chernobyl Power Plant produced about 10% of Ukraine’s electricity at the time of the accident.
In fact, all energy generated by Chernobyl Power Plant was used to power Duga-3 system.

After April 26 1986

After the disaster, Duga-3 was probably turned off, but not for long.
It seems that Duga-3 was very important for Soviets, because in autumn of 1986, reactors 1 and 2 were restarted.
Reactor number 3, that was in the same building as destroyed reactor 4, was working again in autumn of 1987.

Photos

Duga-3 Antennas Satellite Photo:

Duga-3 Receiver Photo (from Wikipedia):

Read more

Wikipedia: Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
Wikipedia: Russian Woodpecker
GlobalSecurity: Steel Yard