Driving through decay

Due to the absence of posts in the past few months, some of you (the HIAT readers) asked me if I engaged into the ironic deed of abandoning the blog. Well, not that I ran out of places and thing to write about, but I got tired of posting the photos that are already out there, on the internet. Because of that, I struggled a bit and finally got myself a nice DSLR to go out and capture them myself, maybe even some of those that have not been captured before. This is one of the first sets I made with the new camera. I'm still learning the art of using a good camera, as I mainly worked with phone or cheap cameras until now, so don't expect to be amazed by the level of professionalism just yet.
This was a test run which I did from my car. It was 30 minutes to sunset and the area is full of dogs, scrap metal thieves and other dangers so I didn't go inside any of these structures. If any of my old readers are still among my present readers, you will probably recognize this area, which was posted twice before when I visited it with Alex. If not, here they are:

Communist industrial ruins

The industrial leftovers of communism in Romania

The unfinished nuclear plant

The "Crimean Atomic Energy Station" (Ukrainian КримськаАЕС, Russian КрымскаяАЭС) is a nuclear power plant that was never completed, situated in the Republic of Crimea, Ukraine. It was intended to create energy for the whole area, but construction was terminated earlier than planned.

Construction works on the nuclear plant were started back in 1976, when Crimea was part of the Soviet Union. The construction progress was very slow, lasting for more than 10 years. Shortly after the Chernobyl disaster, there was an inspection at the plant, which resulted in it being closed down, even before it got a chance to server it's purpose.

This is how a new nuclear power plant was left behind, with equipment and everything. Some parts of the equipment and nuclear reactors were reused, however, at other nuclear plants in Ukraine.
The nuclear power station building is also featured in the Guiness  book of records as the most expensive reactor construction in history. The city of Shchelkino, that was created to host the workers, lost half of it's inhabitants when construction on the plant stopped.

Kharkov Armoured Repair Factory

This is the somewhat abandoned Krarkov tank repair plant, that used to repair around 60 units and 55 engines monthly, before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Krarkov (or Khrarkiv) in Ukraine, hosted one of the best tank units factories in the 1930's. This plant was designed for repairs, and now it's not very active anymore, but still going, although it looks like it's perfectly abandoned. Now it just looks like a very neat scrap yard, full of abandoned tanks and military equipment. The fact that the plant doesn't have any more work to do, means the tanks are not being used, therefore no wars are active, which is a good thing. That doesn't make it less sad that these tanks are left there abandoned. Wasted money.

Abandoned plant in Russia

This abandoned factory in Russia, makes a perfect scenery for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. based movies or games. The location is very eerie, and if you played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or if you watched the movie Stalker 1979 you will see why this place fits like a shoe.

Also, the explorer that took these photos had quite an adventure. He had to run away from guard dogs and climb the buildings to get away, but he successfully managed to capture the best out of this place. I recommend visiting his blog, at the end of this post.