The JSC Zelenogorsk Electrochemical Plant was established in 1962 to produce highly enriched uranium for the Soviet nuclear weapons program.[1] It is a subsidiary of TVEL (Rosatom group),[2] located in Zelenogorsk, formerly the closed city of Krasnoyarsk-45.
History
The plant began in 1962 as a gaseous diffusion plant, and began to produce enriched uranium in 1964. At this time, the U.S. intelligence community predicted that the plant would reach its design capacity in 1967, but the plant was not fully operational until 1970.[1][3] Since becoming fully operational and through the end of the Cold War, the facility's enrichment capacity ranged from 1 million SWU/yr to 6-7 million SWU/yr.[1]