The northern coast of Russia is a huge expanse of water, which has always been the shortest way of communication between the western and eastern parts of the country for the ships of the Russian fleet. Today, in the age of computer technology and satellite communications, this path is not difficult. But earlier it was possible to overcome these spaces, where the polar night lasts up to 100 days, only by focusing on ground landmarks. Such landmarks were the network of nuclear lighthouses built during the Soviet era. This article is about one of them.
A bit of history
Cape Aniva - a busy sea crossing, on the way to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, surrounded by stone banks at a dangerously shallow depth. After the major wreck of the German ship Cosmopolitan off these coasts in 1898, proposals began to appear on the construction of a large lighthouse on Aniva Island or Cape Patience, capable ofilluminate the complex coastline.
Two periods in the history of the Aniva atomic lighthouse
Cape Aniva was chosen for the construction of the lighthouse, but the difficulty was that building materials could only be delivered to the cape by ship, and the waters here are very turbulent. This mission was carried out by the only Roshu-Maru ship at that time, which belonged to the Argun East China Railway Company. And from that moment on, the history of the construction and life of the nuclear lighthouse at Cape Aniva splits into two periods - the history before the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century and the history after.
The first period of the lighthouse's life
The author of the project was the experienced architect Shinobu Miura, the author of the design of the lighthouses on the island of Osaka (1932) and on the Kaigara rock (1936). The lighthouse at Cape Aniva became his most complex project on the territory of Sakhalin and an achievement of engineering thought of that time. Delivery of materials by sea, fog, stone banks and strong currents did not prevent the construction of the lighthouse from being completed in 1939.
Diesel Beacon
A diesel generator and backup batteries, a staff of 4 caretakers who left it at the end of navigation - this is what the nuclear lighthouse at Cape Aniva was like before. The foundation for the lighthouse was the Sivuchya rock. It housed a round concrete tower, 31 meters high with nine equipped floors. In the extension of the tower there were caretaker's rooms, utility rooms, a battery, diesel, radio room. At the top of the tower was a rotating mechanism driven by a clockwork. Kettlebell in300 kg served as a pendulum, and the lighting apparatus was a bowl-shaped bearing filled with mercury. The mechanism was manually wound every three hours. But the lighthouse shone for 17.5 miles around the clock and saved more than one life of sailors.
Nuclear lighthouse at Cape Aniva
This lighthouse was until the 90s of the twentieth century. Soviet engineers proposed a project to power the lighthouse from atomic energy, and a limited series of light small nuclear reactors for lighthouses on the northern coast was manufactured and delivered beyond the Arctic Circle. Such a reactor was installed at the Aniva nuclear lighthouse. He worked offline for many years, calculated the time of year, turned the lantern and sent radio signals to ships. Minimal maintenance costs and the robot beacon should have lasted for many years. Should have, but…
Looted and destroyed
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the nuclear lighthouse was forgotten and abandoned. It worked until the resource of the nuclear reactor ran out, and then it became a ghost beacon. In 1996, media reports about abandoned isotope batteries at a nuclear lighthouse stirred up the public. They were removed, and the marauders finished looting the lighthouse - all the metal structures were cut out and taken out. Today it is a place of pilgrimage for lovers of extreme travel. Such tourists are accompanied by professional rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, “packed” in accordance with the latest technology.
Volunteer efforts - thank you
Sakhalin regional publicThe Boomerang organization has long taken over the construction of the lighthouse on Aniva Island. Organizing extreme excursions, collecting charitable funds, publishing in the media and appealing to authorities at all levels - all these actions are designed to preserve the heritage and history of this place, which has repeatedly changed its owners. Salvation from marauders and vandals, sloppy tourists and from the cruelty of local natural conditions - these are the goals that the public organization is trying to achieve.
Ghost lighthouses and lighthouses with a mystical halo have always attracted people's attention. But looking at the nuclear lighthouse at Cape Aniva, one becomes sad and sad. Thousands of saved lives, the work of builders and selfless caretakers, and simply the unimaginable beauty of the landscape of the Sakhalin coast could find a more worthy use than becoming an extreme object for lovers of urbanism, abandoned buildings and other destroyed buildings. Today this place belongs only to thousands of birds, and people are almost never seen here.
