Jupiter (factory)

Jupiter
Industry Military
Founded 1980
Defunct 1996
Headquarters Pripyat, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine
OSM locator map of the Jupiter Factory within the city of Pripyat

The Jupiter Factory (Russian: Юпитер or завод Юпитер) is an abandoned factory located in the outskirts of Pripyat in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukraine). Officially a manufacturer of cassette recorders and components for home appliances, the factory secretly produced semiconductor components for the military, and had test workshops for robotic systems.

History

As many university-educated people lived in Pripyat, the Soviet Union decided to build a factory in the outskirts to employ part of that people. This factory became the second employer in the area after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The factory opened in 1980 and employed around 3500 people. Officially, Jupiter became a branch of the Kiev factory, Lighthouse,[1][2] where they made cassette recorders and electronic components for home appliances.[3][4]

But the reality was somewhat different. Production of tape and components for appliances was a smokescreen, and Jupiter secretly produced semiconductor components for the military industry. In laboratories and workshops were tested new materials and robotics department developed various robotic systems.[5]

Some time after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and the abandonment of Pripyat,[6] some employees returned to Jupiter and the factory became a radiological laboratory for testing of various decontamination techniques and developing dosimetric instruments. The factory was still operating until 1996;[7] today it is abandoned.[8] The level of radioactive contamination in some places remains several times higher than the safe level especially in the basement.[9]

Cultural references

References

  1. ↑ Припять. Завод "Юпитер" (НОВЫЕ ФАКТЫ)!
  2. ↑ завод "Юпитер"
  3. ↑ Завод "Юпитер"Припять
  4. ↑ Jupiter Factory
  5. ↑ Немного тайны завода "Юпитер",(Припять. Завод “Юпитер” , фото)
  6. ↑ Jupiter Factory
  7. ↑ Chernobyl Welcome
  8. ↑ The huge factory of Pripyat
  9. ↑ Jupiter revisited; Radiation and Contamination. About risks and precautions
  10. ↑ Pink Floyd release new Marooned video...and TDB20 countdown!

Coordinates: 51°24′26″N 30°03′30″E / 51.40715°N 30.05823°E / 51.40715; 30.05823

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