3rd stage of ChNPP (Unfinished 5 and 6 reactors), Pripyat

Unit 5 was scheduled to go online at the end of 1986. Launch was just months away. Then, in the early hours of 26 April, Unit 4 exploded a few kilometres away.

The third queue of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant — Units 5 and 6 — never ran. The construction site froze exactly as the disaster found it: tower cranes looming over unfinished reactor buildings, an empty cooling tower that never released a cloud of steam. It is the largest “freeze-frame” in the entire Exclusion Zone.

Location Card

What It Is & Why Visit

The Chornobyl NPP was built in stages. The first queue comprised Units 1 and 2; the second, Units 3 and 4 (Unit 4 being where the accident occurred). The third queue was to be Units 5 and 6, under construction on a separate adjacent site.

People come here for the sensation of “frozen time.” This isn’t a ruin that crumbled over decades — it’s a construction project stopped mid-sentence. The unfinished cooling tower of the third queue has become one of the most recognisable silhouettes in the Zone, a hidden gem and a favourite frame for drone photographers.

History

By the mid-1980s the Chornobyl NPP was one of the most powerful nuclear stations in the Soviet Union, and it was still growing. Unit 5 was due to come online by the end of 1986 — construction was in full swing, and a large cooling tower for the new reactors was taking shape beside it.

The accident at Unit 4 in the early hours of 26 April 1986 cancelled every plan. Work on the third queue was suspended, and the decision was eventually taken to halt construction permanently. The site was mothballed exactly as it stood.

Unit 5 was months from its inaugural start-up. Instead of a ceremonial launch, the site received tower cranes frozen above unfinished walls — where they remained for decades.

What Happens There Today

The “better times” never came for Units 5 and 6. Today the Third Queue site is under the administration of a specialist enterprise and is being gradually dismantled. What was conceived as a capacity expansion has become a slow disassembly.

What to See on Site

The unfinished cooling tower. The undisputed highlight — a colossal concrete structure built to cool the new reactors, yet never released a single puff of steam. From the inside, the scale and acoustics are overwhelming.

Units 5 and 6 reactor buildings. Unfinished reactor halls with frozen cranes still in position — best appreciated from above, via drone.

Panorama of the entire NPP site. From here you can clearly see how the station was built in stages, from the first units all the way to the abruptly halted third queue.

Getting There

Important. The Third Queue is part of the Chornobyl NPP industrial site within the Exclusion Zone. Independent access is prohibited — this is a restricted facility.

Current status. Following the full-scale invasion and temporary occupation of northern Kyiv Oblast in 2022, tourist visits to the Zone are closed. Check current official access rules before making any plans.

In peacetime. The NPP site was visited exclusively by organised groups with licensed operators, booked in advance with an escort, and subject to mandatory dosimetric screening on exit.

Traveller’s Checklist

• Bring: a Geiger counter and closed clothing — this is a nuclear power plant industrial site.
• Bring: a zoom lens or drone (where permitted) for wide-angle shots of the scale.
• Bring: official permission and an escort — without them the site is inaccessible.
• Avoid: approaching structures that are being decommissioned or are visibly deteriorating.
• Avoid: treating the unfinished construction as “safe ruins” — this is NPP territory with all the associated risks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why were Units 5 and 6 never finished?

The accident at Unit 4 on 26 April 1986 halted construction. The decision was then taken to abandon the project entirely and mothball the site.

When was Unit 5 scheduled to launch?

Unit 5 was planned for commissioning at the end of 1986 — meaning only a matter of months separated it from the disaster.

What is there now?

The site is mothballed and being gradually dismantled by a specialist enterprise. Its most recognisable feature is the unfinished cooling tower.

Can I visit the Third Queue?

Not currently — the Exclusion Zone is closed to tourists due to the war. Access is possible only under official rules, which must be verified in advance.

The Chornobyl Third Queue is a monument to a future that never arrived. There are no dramatic ruins here — only unfinished lines of concrete and steel that never saw their commissioning day.

The unfinished cooling tower stands over the site like an enormous question mark: what would Chornobyl have been, had that night of 26 April ended differently? There is no answer — only an empty concrete shell that never released its steam.