Understand
This "secret city" of about 94,000 residents did not appear on maps of the Soviet Union. Situated on the east bank of the Yenisei River, it was constructed after World War II specifically for processing weapons-grade plutonium, and was known during this time as "Krasnoyarsk-26": essentially a post office box address indicating only a location near the city of Krasnoyarsk. In 1992 Russia's President Yeltsin permitted the secret cities to reveal themselves and use traditional names; Krasnoyarsk-26 came out as the "closed city" of Zheleznogorsk.
Although the nuclear industry is gradually being down-sized due to safety and non-proliferation pressures, in 1996 the residents voted to remain a closed city in an attempt to maintain their town's charming, village-like quality amidst harsher, more environmentally damaged cities. Built on a picturesque artifical lake, the town is said to resemble St. Petersburg. The city is clean and the transportation system efficient, a legacy from the time when Zheleznogorsk was part of the privileged, secret nuclear weapons complex.
