Industry Military Headquarters Pripyat Ceased operations 1996 | Defunct 1996 Founded 1980 | |
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The Jupiter Factory (Russian: Юпитер or завод Юпитер) is an abandoned factory located in the outskirts of Pripyat in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukraine).
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, where they made tape and electronic components for home appliances.
But the reality was somewhat different. Production of tape and components for appliances was just a smokescreen, Jupiter secretly produced semiconductor components for the military industry. In laboratories and workshops were tested new materials and robotics department developed various robotic systems.
After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, unlike Pripyat, the factory wasn't permanently abandoned. After some time, part of the employees return 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; today it is abandoned.
The level of radioactive contamination in some places is several times higher than the safe level.