Visaginas was founded as Sniečkus in 1975. It was named after Antanas Sniečkus, who had been the first secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party. The town was established to house the workers who constructed the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, 2 km (1 mi) to the east.
The power plant was the world's largest RMBK Chernobyl-style reactor plant. RMBK reactors are graphite cooled and have no containment system, so in case of an accident the radiation is directly released into the open air. The Ignalina plant had two such reactors, but the first one was decommissioned in 2004 and the second one in 2009. In the center of Visaginas stands a large Geiger counter that records daily radiation levels.
Most people in Visaginas speak Russian as their first language.
Not far from Visaginas is the lake of Drūkšiai, which is the largest lake in Lithuania.
Visaginas has excellent rail connections with Daugavpils and Vilnius. Visaginas is in the northeast of Lithuania, 130 km northeast of Vilnius.
Visaginas ©Roy Digital Design
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant ©Håkon Grimstad
