Obninsk

a city under oblast jurisdiction in Kaluga Oblast, RSFSR; situated on the Protva River, a tributary of the Oka. Railroad station on the Moscow-Briansk line, 106 km southwest of Moscow. Population, 61,000 (1974; 16,000 in 1959). The world’s first atomic power plant, which began operation in 1954, is located in Obninsk. The city is an important research center, with institutes of medical radiology, physics and energetics, hydrometeorological information, and experimental meteorology, and also a seismic observatory. The city also has a medical school and a museum.