Sniečkus 1975

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Visaginas

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Gorod-Sputnik 1975

Discussion of the construction of Visaginas

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Visaginas is the youngest city in Lithuania, located in a pine forest and on the shore of Lake Visaginas. It was built for the workers of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Specialists from all over the Soviet Union were employed to build the city and work at the station.

The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant was supposed to become the most powerful in the world. It was planned to build four power units with RBMK-1500 water-cooled graphite-moderated channel-type power reactors. The thermal power capacity of one unit of the RBMK-1500 is of 4800 MW, electrical power capacity of 1500 MW. After the Chernobyl tragedy in 1986, the thermal capacity of the reactor was limited to 4200 MW. The first unit of the Ignalina nuclear power plant came online on December 31, 1983. At the same time, in September 1980, the construction of the second block was already in progress. The work was proceeding at a rapid pace, the number of people engaged in construction was constantly growing. In 1982 11,286 people worked on the construction of the Ignalina nuclear power plant. Unit 2 was scheduled for launch in 1987. When both reactors were working, Ignalina NPP produced about 70% of the electricity consumed in Lithuania. By that time, the construction of the third block was completed by 60 percent, but after the Chernobyl disaster the Government of the Lithuanian SSR turned to the Government of the USSR and all the work on the construction of the third block of the INPP was suspended, and in 1989 it was completely stopped.

Initially, Visaginas was called Snechkus (Снечкус), in honor of Antanas Sneckus, the Lithuanian Communist leader. The construction of the city began in 1975. The builders brought a huge stone to the city, which resembled the shape of Lithuania and then became a symbol of the city. This happened on August 10, and now this is the official date of the founding of Visaginas.

The city was planned in accordance with the latest trends in town planning. The infrastructure had all that was necessary for the modern city: kindergartens, schools, cultural and administrative buildings. Visaginas was supposed to resemble a butterfly from bird’s view. But because of the collapse of the USSR the city wasn’t completed, and the butterfly till this day has only 2 wings. Also there are a lot of unfinished buildings in the city, which have not yet been demolished.

After Lithuania gained independence in 1991, Ignalina NPP became even more important for the country. The city was also renamed Visaginas, which means “protecting itself”. However, the termination of INPP’s work by 2009 was an indispensable condition for Lithuania to be able to join the European Union and NATO. Builders near the stone Lithuanians made concessions, although of foundation of Visaginas many say that this was a mistake. The reason for dismantling was that the reactors at Ignalina NPP did not meet the safety requirements of the European Union. They were not equipped with a protective shell, like all modern nuclear reactors. There-

6 fore, it was concluded that the risk of operating RBMK reactors cannot be reduced to that they are sufficiently safe to operate for a long time. According to the decree of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the first block of the INPP was closed at the end of December 2004, the second block - on December 31, 2009.

When the first unit was shut down, 3517 people were working at the Ignalina NPP. And when the second block was stopped the number of workers was 2354.

The city gradually became empty. Specialists with families began to move to Russia. They understood, if they had not yet been laid off, then it still would happen sooner or later. If in 1996 there were 36100 people living in Visaginas, by 2011 this number was reduced to 22361.

At the moment, only 18,900 people live in the city. Only those people who take part in the process of INPP’s decommissioning work at the station. Now Visaginas has a very high unemployment rate, because those who worked at the station and lived in the city, are being forced to work not in their specialty. And there Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant are not many places to find a job: commerce, a sewing and a furniture factory. Young people leave the city to study in other cities and countries and often do not return, because there are no career prospects for them in Visaginas.

Now it is difficult to say what will happen to Visaginas in the future since the decommissioning of Ignalina NPP may be delayed indefinitely. But still it’s safe to say one thing - the reason for building of the city was built – is no more.

Perhaps in the future Visaginas will take its niche in ecological tourism, and perhaps the city will disappear completely. In any case, this project seeks to capture the existing specifics of the city. After all, what is happening there is very fascinating from the point of view of urbanism: Visaginas is a city frozen in time. The urban space is a cluster of energy with a constantly moving flow of people and a rapidly developing infrastructure. Now, Visaginas is a “monument” of the city that was planned in 1975, unfinished and half-empty.

The best way to show the state of the city is in a photo book.

However, I am not only going to show what happens in the city right now, the project also asks the question about the future of the city. The audiConstruction of ence will be asked to think, to assume the Unit B-I what will happen to the city in the future, or if the future even exists for Visaginas, will be encouraged to act, for example, to develop a business in Visaginas, thus, creating new jobs.

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The first builders of Visaginas

Cars near Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant

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Train station in Visaginas Stadium near the school Sculpture Yard #1 Tamara, teacher of ethic Classroom Hall Cheldren are doing gymnastics Concert Hall The enterance Talent show in Palace of Culture Room in the abandoned kindegarten Yard with a little stadium Backyard of abandoned kindergarten Playing tennis Fishermen Abandoned dormitory Government building The block house View Street lights Government building The stone of Visaginas foundation Nadia Playground Abandoned kindergarten Swimming pool Sportshall Contraction of a new Shopping Mall Anton, Nastya and Alisa Stadium near the school #1 Butterfly Walking women Stadium near the school #2 Stas and Kiv Boats Lake Shore Lake Kukuize

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Interwiev

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Stas and Kiv:

I’m 29 years old and all my childhood I spent here in Visaginas. After graduation I left my city and studied in England. After university I didn’t know what to do but work was not an option at the time. And I just decided to go to Thailand.

I booked tickets and that was it. I liked this place so much that I decided to return my ticket home and stayed there for about 2 years. During these years, I traveled and spent most of my time there partying. In Thailand I met Kiv and we soon moved in to her parents’ house and lived there for some time.For a while we were just friends but gradually our relationship grew into something bigger. Our first child Miroslav was born in Thailand. After his birth we decided to move to Lithuania and where we had our second son. At first it was quite difficult for her to get used to (the weather was often cold and people were gloomy), but after some time she got some new friends and everything became a lot better there. Now she has more friends than me. We have settled here so to say. Kiv does Thai massage and has a lot of loyal clients here. I have a university degree in System Administration but right now I am working as a Web-Developer.

My parents, like many others, moved to Visaginas from Russia. They are from Orenburg region; there were many specialists in nuclear science. My grandfather worked as a builder at the station and my grandmother was the main accountant. My dad finished school here and then moved to Minsk to study and soon met my mother. I was born in Minsk but my grandparents gave away their apartment in Visaginas to my parents and moved to Grodno themselves.

I think that the decommission of the power plant affected absolutely everyone. People began to leave the city because there were fewer jobs around.

Some had the opportunity to change their specialty from a nuclear power worker to something else. It is quite difficult for a nuclear specialist to find a job now. Reactors are mostly automated and nuclear power plants don’t need as many employees as in the past. Because I am a big supporter of green movement I want to station to be

fully shut down. The government should invest in new sources of energy such as wind generators. Yes, nuclear energy is one of the most environmentally friendly sources but I think it is sustainable for a short term only. The disposal of waste is a compulsory discussion to have if we want to use nuclear energy long term. But the process of disposal is extremely dangerous. Our past experience with Fukushima and Chernobyl’ disasters shows that we cannot control everything, we are only human.

I see that more and more people are coming to Visaginas during summer.

There’re fewer old people living in Visaginas than ever before and a lot of young people are moving to the city. The main reason for young people moving to Visaginas is that the apartments are very cheap.

Lots of people come here in search of a calm and relaxing place to live. The nature is unique here: there isn’t as many forests and lakes in any other regions in Lithuania. It seems that eco-tourism in our city is developing at a fast pace. There are a lot of future prospects and possibilities directly associated with it. We already have some eco-tours developed by enthusiasts and hopefully they build a health complex here. Because I work remotely and earn more money than a person who’s working fulltime, I can easily afford to live here quite comfortably. Me and my family like living here because such combination of low cost of living and great infrastructure is extremely hard to find. For example, if we go to Thailand, decent education there costs a lot and free education is very bad.

We would need a car to drive our kids to school which would be far away and cars are expensive and not environmentally friendly. But here children can go to school by themselves, everything is close enough. Visaginas is a very clean and safe city, maybe due to a lack of people here.

It’s a perfect city for me.

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Sasha:

I’m 29 years old. I studied in Vilnius College, graduated from the Faculty of Computer Science. It includes computer technology, networks, administration and even mechatronics and pneumatics.

It wasn’t interesting for me so I studied to become an electrician as well. I work as an electrician and also earn a bit of money from the Internet. I have a channel on YouTube about Visaginas and life in Lithuania as a whole.My grandfather was invited to Visaginas because he worked as an engineer at a station in Zheleznogorsk in Siberia. He came here in 1983 and a year later brought his daughters, my mother and my aunt, to Visaginas. At that time my mother had already graduated from the University of Arts in Krasnoyarsk but my aunt who was younger had to finish school in Visaginas. Most of my relatives worked at the station: my grandfather, grandmother, aunt and father. Grandfather worked as an the chief engineer in a compressor station, my grandmother was also qualified to fill the same position but the times were different and it was out of order for a family to have two bosses. So that’s why she was an ordinary worker at NPP. Then the station was closed and only my aunt and uncle are still working at the station.

Of course the city began to dry out. For people who work on the Internet it doesn’t really matter. But when you walk on the streets you want to see more life there, to see the city develop and thrive, to see more young and active people. Many people leave Visaginas in search of a better place for instance Vilnius or England.

On the other hand, the city became calmer, eventually the crime rate significantly decreased. Since a lot of young people left, the city’s drug problem has disappeared. Those who remained try to drink less alcohol and do sports. You can get to Vilnius in 2 hours and then travel farther away anywhere you want. There are plans to build a napkin factory. So that will create more working places and the salary should also be good. The average age of a person living in Visaginas is about 50 years old. Visaginas is a perfect place for somebody who wants a future in sports for their children. The city is small, com

pact and clean and has a lot of sport sections such as rowing, biathl on or acrobatics. Anyways, facts are facts, some people are dying and some are moving away. Consequently more schools will be closed; there will be more empty houses.

But it doesn’t depend only on townspeople anymore; it also depends on the city council and its ability to attract new investors to Visaginas.

I don’t know where I’ll be in the future but I will always come back here. If not for my family living here I would probably live in Vilnius now.

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Vika:

I’m 30 years old, I was born in Leningrad. But it turned out that my grandparents came to Visaginas in 1975 with my mother and two aunts. My mother studied here her last two classes. Then she went to study in Leningrad. She got married there and later I was born. It was the 90’s, and it was very hard, we had to stand in line for food and lived in a communal apartment.

One time my grandmother came there, looked at the way we lived and took me with her to Visaginas. Here my grandparents had their own three-room apartment, a country house. In VIsaginas you can freely let the child walk in the yard. And in St. Petersburg in the nineties it was not safe. My mom and I lived together. Here I had a grandmother, a cousin, uncles, aunts, and at some point I made friends here. So in the end, I stayed in Visaginas. I graduated from school here. Then I graduated from Gediminas State University in Vilnius with a degree in Engineering. I lived and worked in Vilnius for 5 years, but in the end I decided to return to Visaginas.

Now I work in a construction company. I got married three years ago. My husband and I bought an apartment here and we are repairing it slowly but surely.

My family is not directly connected with the station, they came here when the city was being built, my grandfather was the operator of a high-rise crane and he was building residential houses. And my grandmother was a storekeeper; she gave out clothes, materials, tools to those who worked at the construction site. My aunts’ husbands were working at the station, one of them was laid off and the other one is still working there. My aunt also worked in the canteen at the nuclear power plant.

She also was laid off, but after 10 years she went back to work there once again.

When we found out that the station would be closed, the mood of people in the city was grim. Several of my classmates left for Russia with their families.

When this happened, we were basically children. I lived most of my life with the idea that the station is being dismantled, and not that it just works. I do not think that this is a positive or a negative thing; I just take it for what it is. What is the point

is being radically against or for it, if I cannot influence this situation? If we build a couple of factories, then the city will have a future. The city needs production. Visaginas city council wants to open something new, but they cannot do anything right now. While this is in the earliest stage, I do not take it seriously. We need factories that employ a large number of people. Because like always, the factory creates service firms, transportation, repairs, cafes around itself. And because of that influx of people occurs in the city.

I’m going to stay in the city, everything suits me well. My husband and I are working; we have enough money to live comfortably. I do not need any parties, I’ve lived in Vilnius for 5 years, and I can count parties I’ve been to on the fingers of one hand. I relax in a different way, by spending time with my family. Life in big cities is not for me. I like this small town; I can get around it on foot. I like it when there is someone to talk to. When you are in a big city, you are actually alone. You do not know anybody and most of the people are indifferent to you. They are more independent, each person is concentrated on themselves. Especially newcomers, they come with a certain goal in mind, achieve some heights in their careers and do not notice the people around of them.

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Yura:

I’m 32 years old; I studied in Visaginas at school number 2, “school of good hope”. I graduated in 2003. Then I entered the university in Kaunas. I studied at the Faculty of Engineering there, but that did not last for long. We had financial and family problems. I had to leave my studies at that point. Then I left for England, lived in a small town where a friend of mine had already lived. So I lived there for about 10 years. And only a couple of years ago I came back here. I traveled abroad; I was in different countries in Europe and now I’ve decided to see if I can do something in Visaginas.

My mother, Vera Arkad’evna, was born in Uzbekistan. Originally her parents lived in Ukraine but fell under the repressions of the beginning of the 20th century and were sent to Uzbekistan. My mother studied there, and then she went to St. Petersburg to live with her relatives. She studied there to become an accountant, worked in all kinds of factories. In St. Petersburg she met my father. At this time, the construction of the nuclear power plant had begun here in Visaginas, and specialists from all of the USSR were called for construction.

Because my father was a specialist in his field (an electrician and an engineer) he also went to Visaginas, and my mother came with him. She began working as a manager of a food warehouse at the station.

Now my mother does not work there. The station has not been closed fully, people still work there, but the blocks themselves are closed, and there are a lot less people now than there were before. In 2008, when my father died, he had a business unrelated to the power plant, but the power plant is still a very important part of city’s economy.

When the dismantling process began, it strongly affected the city. I cannot say with a certainty how many people have left Visaginas, but it was a lot. You can say that the city is still quietly dying. Those who remained were mostly pensioners and mothers with children, because they had nowhere else to go. All others have left.

The future of the city depends on

what happens in Russia or Belarus, with which it to this day has good relations. But if Lithuania is pulled to the West, the way it is happening now, Visaginas won’t have a prosperous future, because there are too many Russians here. Let’s just say, the attitude of the authorities towards Visaginas is very negative. I have nothing against the Lithuanians, I’m not a nationalist, but I consider myself Russian. But more and more Lithuanians are coming to Visaginas. It seems that they are trying to drive out Russians from here, and that is happening not just here, but also throughout all of Lithuania.

Lithuanians come here to work from nearby villages, where there is no work at all. Here they at least have some opportunities. The city was originally Russian, and now Lithuania is against Russians. And if that attitude doesn’t change, the Russian population in Visaginas will slowly disappear.

I haven’t made my mind yet, maybe I’ll stay here in Visaginas or maybe not.

Many friends have left the city; some went to Vilnius, others to Kaunas. We’ll see.

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Oleg:

I’m 55 years old, was born in Vilnius. I graduated from school №35 with a specialty of milling machine operator.

Then I joined the army and was an army pilot in Azerbaijan.

My brother was first one from my family who moved to Visaginas, then came my mother and my sister. I moved to Visaginas in 1996 and I was the last one from my family to move there. Since that year I have been doing small business.

I have 3 children, all of whom are boys.

The youngest is 12 and other two are 22 and 33. My eldest son lives in Vilnius, my middle son lives in Germany – he left 3 years ago and the youngest lives with me and my wife.

People are leaving the city that is one of the reasons why the business is so weak.

It seems to me that Ignalina NPP could have worked for several years more. At least it provided some income.

I’m staying in Visaginas. Nobody needs us abroad. But maybe one day one of my sons will take me and my wife away. Is seems to me that there is no future here.

But I would like to see Visaginas develop.

I’m pleased that I moved from Vilnius to Visaginas. I would say that main benefits of living here are: untouched nature and a fresh air, people are better and I fell more freedom here than in Vilnius.

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Gintas:

I am from Vilnius. At first I lived in a boarding school in Vilnius, then in an orphanage in Marijampole. At the age of 13 I was sent to jail for the first time. I was there for 3 years and 8 months, the second time for 5 more and the last time for 2. I spent all those years in jail because of theft. I stole some cheese, sausages, maybe something else. Previously they gave a fine or penal labor for that, but if you were convicted before, they immediately put you in jail. Last time I got out in 1989 then immediately returned to Vilnius.

There I had some problems with the police, if anything criminal happened in the neighborhood - they immediately thought of me. I understand, I was guilty right away for them, it was impossible to live like that.

In 1997, in order to stop the conflicts with the police, I moved to Visaginas. Everything got back to normal, I have no conflicts with the police here. I do not want to steal ever again; I never want to see prison fences again. Now I do not work, although I’m in the Visaginas Labor Exchange. Here I worked as a painter, as a cleaner, and at a carpentry plant. After I got out of prison I got my education as a painter-plasterer. I am a painter of the fourth category, plasterer of the third.

After the second imprisonment i studied to become a carpenter and a welder, but there was no category, I just finished the courses. Now, because I’m not working, it’s very hard, but still I’m not begging for money. It’s very difficult to live here, although it’s a beautiful city, but there’s nothing to do. I walk around the city collecting empty bottles. I know many good places for picking mushrooms and berries, so when the summer begins, I hope to earn some money selling them.

I do not like it very much here in Visaginas; life was more fun in Vilnius. It’s boring here. I chose Visaginas because of cheap apartment prices. My wife and I sold an apartment in Vilnius and bought one here, I still have a little money left from that. But I do not live with my wife anymore. I went to the Czech Republic to work for a year, she told me “If you’re going abroad, I’m not waiting for you”. I told her that I was leaving to earn some money,

and not to find a new wife. Now she lives with another man. And I’m alone; I live in the stairway of an apartment building. In Vilnius the apartment was registered on my name, but in Visaginas we changed that, so in the end my ex-wife got everything. I guess during that year she got what she wanted. I don’t have a new woman, I want to find someone, but I’m worried that something awful like that would happen to me again, it is better to be alone then. We have a son he’s 28 years old now, I see him all the time and he always helps me out with some money. There is a woman who helps me out sometimes, she feeds me and I pay her for that.

I do not really want to stay in Visaginas, I have had an offer to go to England for work, but I need to make a new passport. May 5th this year I turned 50 years old. Here in Lithuania there is nothing to be looking forward to and nothing to do. It seems to me that Visaginas will die, there are no prospects. NPP is closed; only the sewing and furniture factories are still working. For now, I’ll work for three or four months in England, I’m not sure what I’ll be doing next.

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Nadia:

I’m 32 years old and was born in Snechkus. I’ve been a freelance photographer for two years, before that, I’ve combined that with other jobs. I studied at the Vilnius College with specialty in with business directed translation. I studied there, because my parents wanted me to, it was interesting for me, too, but I never intended to work as a translator in the future.

Interest in photography arose because my mother would constantly photograph us in our childhood. My family is not very big: my parents, me and my brother. But every year during the summer my cousins came to visit us in Visaginas. My mother would always go for a walk with us, she always had a camera with her. She was great at capturing the best moments, and now when looking at these photos, I appreciate it even more. Now I want to move away from commercial photography. I actually stopped looking for new clients. Meaning that now I have a feeling that I can’t photograph for non-commercial reasons. Recently I’ve been trying to carry my camera with me everywhere to take pictures of something else, for my own enjoyment. I also practice calligraphy. Someone gave me a few old poster feathers. When one time my husband left for Vilnius, and I wrote all day. I take great pleasure in this process. I’ve subscribed a lot of calligraphers I found on Instagram.

Now I switched to lettering, but I know that I still have very little experience, some things are difficult for me and not everything turns out great.

After my dad found out that the Ignalina NPP was under construction he got a job at the station, my mother at the time worked as a secretary in the sports school. There is a stereotype that a person working at a station has a lot of money. But we never had much money. My dad still works as a crane operator at the station, my brother also works at the station.

I had lived in Vilnius when everyone found out that the station would be closed. When I came back to Visaginas and went out for a walk I felt very sad.

There were few people on the streets, nothing was being repaired, and there were old Soviet playgrounds in every yard.

But I like Visaginas because of the beautiful nature. My parents and I used to go out to the lake every weekend. Over time, everything more or less settled down, now people once again come here to live. Me and my husband moved to Visaginas from Vilnius and have lived here for two years now. We are sick of living in a big city.

We lived on the outskirts, and we had to spend a lot of time on trips to work. We wanted to spend that time on something else, something more useful. My husband is a programmer, so we can easily afford to live in Visaginas. Here time stretches out for you, so you have a lot more free time. Everyone says that it’s boring, but if you’re bored, then you’re a boring person.

Going to Vilnius for the weekend or flying somewhere abroad is never a problem for us. I see a bright future for Visaginas.

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Tamara:

I was born in Siberia, but I have a Ukrainian citizenship, so I have a lot of different cultures mixed in me. I studied at the Institute of Culture to become a film director. Now I work as a teacher but have no pedagogical education. My husband was born in Lithuania and was an officer. Because of that we had to travel a lot around the country. His parents lived in Visaginas, and we moved here in 1993. We chose a city that would be comfortable for me to live in, because back then I did not know the language. I also liked the city a lot it was young and beautiful. But I was immediately told not to look for a job as a film director because I simply wouldn’t find. We already had a son. He started going to school here, and somehow his teacher asked me to organize a holiday for the school. The director really liked it. After that they asked me to help with the organization for the school’s graduation ball. And in the autumn of next year I was invited to work in the school officially.

Back then at school there were approximately 1600 pupils, now there are only 500. The school was very bright with its own warm traditions, I was very happy to start working there. It was a celebration of fantasy and creativity. I miss that energy now. I was asked to be a teacher of Ethics.

There were no textbooks or methodical aids for this subject. But I was surrounded by professionals, I am very grateful to all the people who were always there to help me. I went to other teachers’ classes, I watched how they conducted their lessons, sometimes real life experience and practice is worth more than theoretical education. I have worked at this school for 25 years now.

When the nuclear power plant was closed, we held a debate tournament at our school. There was a huge number of children at our school whose parents worked at the station. Of course, we were against closing the power plant, everyone in the city was against it. During the debate, you defend two positions: pros and cons. And when you defend opposite position from your own, you see the other side too, you begin to understand it. Nuclear power was a great and cheap source

of energy for our country. So many professionals have left for other cities and countries. By the way, our team won in those debates, we were given a cash prize and got the right to participate in the international debate tournament.

I do not have a pessimistic outlook on the future of Visaginas; I’m hopeful that something can change for the better. My husband and I have a son, he is a programmer, he works in Vilnius now, but he’s also lived in London. And if he would ever even hint, that he might return here, we would be very happy. But he says there’s no chance of that happening, although he says he doesn’t want to live in Vilnius for a long time. I do not know where we will live when we’re old, probably somewhere close to our son and our future grandchildren. I don’t think about it that often, I try to focus on the present.

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Nadia:

I’m 32 years old and was born in Snechkus. I’ve been a freelance photographer for two years, before that, I’ve combined that with other jobs. I studied at the Vilnius College with specialty in with business directed translation. I studied there, because my parents wanted me to, it was interesting for me, too, but I never intended to work as a translator in the future.

Interest in photography arose because my mother would constantly photograph us in our childhood. My family is not very big: my parents, me and my brother. But every year during the summer my cousins came to visit us in Visaginas. My mother would always go for a walk with us, she always had a camera with her. She was great at capturing the best moments, and now when looking at these photos, I appreciate it even more. Now I want to move away from commercial photography. I actually stopped looking for new clients. Meaning that now I have a feeling that I can’t photograph for non-commercial reasons. Recently I’ve been trying to carry my camera with me everywhere to take pictures of something else, for my own enjoyment. I also practice calligraphy. Someone gave me a few old poster feathers. When one time my husband left for Vilnius, and I wrote all day. I take great pleasure in this process. I’ve subscribed a lot of calligraphers I found on Instagram.

Now I switched to lettering, but I know that I still have very little experience, some things are difficult for me and not everything turns out great.

After my dad found out that the Ignalina NPP was under construction he got a job at the station, my mother at the time worked as a secretary in the sports school. There is a stereotype that a person working at a station has a lot of money. But we never had much money. My dad still works as a crane operator at the station, my brother also works at the station.

I had lived in Vilnius when everyone found out that the station would be closed. When I came back to Visaginas and went out for a walk I felt very sad.

There were few people on the streets, nothing was being repaired, and there were old Soviet playgrounds in every yard.

But I like Visaginas because of the beautiful nature. My parents and I used to go out to the lake every weekend.

Over time, everything more or less settled down, now people once again come here to live. Me and my husband moved to Visaginas from Vilnius and have lived here for two years now. We are sick of living in a big city. We lived on the outskirts, and we had to spend a lot of time on trips to work. We wanted to spend that time on something else, something more useful. My husband is a programmer, so we can easily afford to live in Visaginas. Here time stretches out for you, so you have a lot more free time. Everyone says that it’s boring, but if you’re bored, then you’re a boring person.

Going to Vilnius for the weekend or flying somewhere abroad is never a problem for us. I see a bright future for Visaginas.

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Nastya and Anton :

(Nastya) I am 26 years old and was born in Snechkus. I studied in the second school from the first to the 12th grade. To get higher education I went to England.

I worked there for a while but eventually returned here. Living in England did not work out for me so I decided to live in Visaginas. I am a business psychologist, but I of course understand that this profession is not needed or known by many people in Visaginas it also does not match the Lithuanian lifestyle.

(Anton) I am 26 years old, I was born in Visaginas. I graduated from school here; I was very interested in football and played it all the time. The last two years of school, i was considering becoming a professional football player. I studied in Manchester to become a photojournalist, but after a while dropped out. I met Nastya in Visaginas in 2013, she came here on vacation. At first, we were friends, started talking to each other more and more, and then fell in love and began dating. We traveled together for a long time in the Caucasus. When we were expecting our daughter Alice, there were options to stay in the Caucasus, go to England or Vilnius.

But we decided it would be better to raise her in Visaginas, both her grandmothers live here, nature is beautiful, everything is within walking distance, that saves a lot of time, also the apartments are very cheap here. Those factors played a huge role in us deciding where to live. We are staying in Visaginas for at least three more years. Now we have signed a contract to establish our own company. It was a project from the labor exchange. It implies the allocation of subsidies for working tools, in our case, it is camping equipment, so we bought kayaks, bicycles and trailers.

We are developing camping routes for a whole year. In winter, there are walking and biking tours, in the summer when the weather is nicer we have water routes. My work involves eco-tourism and work with residents from local villages. We provide such services as accompanying on the routes, training in surviving in the wild, gathering berries and mushrooms.

I really enjoyed getting in touch with locals, which helped me become

more open and sociable, I also learned a lot about their traditions, cuisine and crafts. Taking long hikes is also very good for you, so my job helps me maintain a healthy lifestyle. I’ve traveled a lot in my life and it happens that I hiked for many months. We found something similar to our idea in Finland; there it was fully realized a long time ago. In Visaginas there is everything you need for the development of such a business, and I would even say that the lakes are more pleasant here.

Nastya’s parents worked at the station, her dad fell under the staff reduction. Her mother worked in an energy institute, her friends went here after the institute, she often came to visit them, and her father was already working there and had mutual friends with her. One day, when her mother came to her friends’ dormitory, she knocked on the wrong door, and her father opened it. They became friends, and after some time got married. Father is originally from Yaroslavl. Dad is one of the chiefs of the NPP. Some time ago, they were thinking of moving back to Russia but that never happened.

(Anton) My father worked as a builder of the power plant, my mother has Lithuanian roots, she and her sister worked in a nearby town to Visaginas. My mother was born in Vorkuta, studied in Vilnius, and after a while finally came to work here in Visaginas. Now my father has a construction firm.

There were no direct consequences for us from the station closing down.

However, for many families this was a very difficult thing to accept. The workers and their families were under a lot of stress, Nastya told me that her parents are struggling working there. One of the reasons why we decided to start our own business is because besides the station there are really no employers in the city. I am not talking about the money, a nice working atmosphere and good attitude is rare to find these days. The city was not ready for such a huge change, and the country was not ready. There was no plan for what to do next. The power plant was the only thing the city had going for itself. Soon after the economic situation in the country

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has become very different from what it once was.

We do not really believe that a big company or business will come to Visaginas. However, the city will keep existing of course. A lot depends on the state, but we are sure that just as much depends on ordinary people like us. We are trying to do something so that people want to visit and maybe stay in Visaginas. If in three years the work we are doing turns out to be unproductive, we will develop a new project.

In the meantime, we will try to improve and perfect our business not just for our own benefit, but also for society’s.

82 Tatsiana Shchukina Concept: Tatsiana Shchukina Photographs: Tatsiana Shchukina (exept p. 4-7: M. Shcherbakov) Texts and translations: Tatsiana Shchukina Poetry: Violeta Cvirkaitė-Bendelston Nikolai Belousov Editig: Tatsiana Shchukina Curator: Vita Banko Printing and binding: “Ciklonas” Žirmūnų g. 68, Vilnius 09124 Online sources: http://www.visaginas.lt https://ru.delfi.lt/ https://ru.sputniknews.lt euromapa.ne http://ru.welcometo.lt Tatsiana Shchukina would like to thank Sasha, Vova, Nastya, Anton and Nadia.

Vilnius, 2018

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