.I did some work on an 18 year old house over the weekend. The owners, A and S recently purchased the place and have been working very hard to move in on New Year’s Eve. I was happy to be asked to help because New Year’s is a time for new beginnings.
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My wife’s family is of Russian descent. They reside in a small town in Lithuania near the border of Latvia called Visaginas. The town was built to house workers for the giant Ignalina Nuclear Reactor which supplies power to much of the surrounding Baltic’s. The residents come from all over the former Soviet Union. The unofficial language of Visaginas is Russian as that was the common tongue amongst those chosen to work at and on the plant. You hear it on the streets which like the buildings have begun to literally crumble. The concrete that was used was not of good enough quality to withstand the sub zero Lithuanian winters. Add this to the rigorous schedule for getting the town up and running and you have plenty of opportunities to cut corners. I am told a much higher standard was applied to the construction of the power plant.
My wife’s family is of Russian descent. They reside in a small town in Lithuania near the border of Latvia called Visaginas. The town was built to house workers for the giant Ignalina Nuclear Reactor which supplies power to much of the surrounding Baltic’s. The residents come from all over the former Soviet Union. The unofficial language of Visaginas is Russian as that was the common tongue amongst those chosen to work at and on the plant. You hear it on the streets which like the buildings have begun to literally crumble. The concrete that was used was not of good enough quality to withstand the sub zero Lithuanian winters. Add this to the rigorous schedule for getting the town up and running and you have plenty of opportunities to cut corners. I am told a much higher standard was applied to the construction of the power plant.
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Ignalina was built in the seventies when the massive footprint of the Soviet Union included countries, or republics, that were developing at an incredible rate. Like parents with a lot of mouths to feed Moscow had initiated the construction of Ignalina and Chernobyl at about the same time. In fact they are of a strikingly similar design. So much so that as a stipulation of Lithuania joining the European Union Ignalina must be closed. The Lithuanian government protested vehemently, citing the vast amounts of money it had spent since the Chernobyl accident to make Ignalina safe. But public mistrust towards anything which evokes the ghost of Chernobyl is understandably high and the Lithuanians government’s cries have fallen on deaf ears. Thus the Ignalina plant is slowly shutting down.
Ignalina was built in the seventies when the massive footprint of the Soviet Union included countries, or republics, that were developing at an incredible rate. Like parents with a lot of mouths to feed Moscow had initiated the construction of Ignalina and Chernobyl at about the same time. In fact they are of a strikingly similar design. So much so that as a stipulation of Lithuania joining the European Union Ignalina must be closed. The Lithuanian government protested vehemently, citing the vast amounts of money it had spent since the Chernobyl accident to make Ignalina safe. But public mistrust towards anything which evokes the ghost of Chernobyl is understandably high and the Lithuanians government’s cries have fallen on deaf ears. Thus the Ignalina plant is slowly shutting down.
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My father in law, a plant electrician, has already taken early retirement and next year my mother in law will follow suit. They do not know exactly what the future holds. They, like the “town of the future” they helped to create, are being left behind in the woods of Lithuania with failing infrastructure and two giant cooling reactors. This New Years Eve they will put on a brand new set of cloths around one hour before midnight and meet the New Year wearing a new outfit. Like my clients who will meet the new year in their new home they are hopeful of a new beginning and that is a holiday spirit I can really get caught up in.
My father in law, a plant electrician, has already taken early retirement and next year my mother in law will follow suit. They do not know exactly what the future holds. They, like the “town of the future” they helped to create, are being left behind in the woods of Lithuania with failing infrastructure and two giant cooling reactors. This New Years Eve they will put on a brand new set of cloths around one hour before midnight and meet the New Year wearing a new outfit. Like my clients who will meet the new year in their new home they are hopeful of a new beginning and that is a holiday spirit I can really get caught up in.
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