Seversk

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Image:Seversk coat of arms.gif Seversk (Russian: Северск) is a town (since 1956) in Tomsk Oblast, Russia. It is located at Template:Coor dm, on the bank of Tom River. Population is 109,106 (2002 census). Until 1992, the city was known as Tomsk-7 and from 1949-1954 was known as Post-Box 5.

Seversk is the site of Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises (Russian: Сибирский химический комбинат), founded in 1954. It is comprised of several nuclear reactors and chemical plants for separation, enrichment and reprocessing of uranium and plutonium. Nuclear warheads were being produced and stored on the premises.

The town was a secret city in the Soviet Union until President Boris Yeltsin decreed in 1992 that such cities could use their historical names. The town appeared on no official maps until then. As is the tradition with Soviet towns containing secret facilities (Ozersk aka Chelyabinsk-40, Zheleznogorsk aka Atomgrad aka Krasnoyarsk-26, Sarov aka Arzamas-16), Tomsk-7 is actually a P.O. Box number and implies that the place is located some distance from the city of Tomsk (15 km to the NW, in fact).

Despite the order removing Seversk's secret status, the city is one of 45 cities, towns and villages that remain closed to non-residents. Permission granting access to the city may only be granted by the institution being visited.

One of the most serious nuclear accidents at SGCE occurred on April 6, 1993, when a tank containing a highly radioactive solution exploded.

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