This presentation investigates the juncture of hydropower and nuclear engineering traditions in the form of energy complexes in the Soviet Union during the 25-year-period of 1966-1991. During this period, the USSR tried to stimulate its economy with cheap electricity to counter economic stagnation. Communist politicians brought forth a grand-scheme nuclear agenda to address this issue. It encapsulated the civil nuclear industry as the symbol of societal progress. The promise of abundant and cheap electricity would re-fuel the ailing economy, demonstrate the technological strength of the country and prove to its own people that concrete steps were being taken towards the realisation of communism.

In fact, a nuclear-powered energy complex would also help the imperial centre to economically develop prospective areas at the periphery in the southern and western parts of Ukraine, as well as in the Arctic North. In this way, electricity supply was a means for creating interconnectedness and thus helping to shape one Soviet people out of many different nationalities.

Soviet engineers from the hydrotechnical institute Gidroproekt envisioned therefore the creation of energy complexes, in which a nuclear power plant would provide the energy grid's baseload, while accompanying hydropower plants would contribute the peak-demand-regulation. By combining these two means and functions in electricity production, irrigation for agriculture and the yield of local fisheries could be improved. These complexes were planned to be large (5-10 GWe) and symbols for the magnitude of Socialist progress. By thus combining older hydraulic with newer nuclear traditions, these complexes signified a Soviet approach to coping with electricity shortages in a context of economic struggle and imperial consolidation.

The article makes use of archival planning material from Gidroproekt and Minenergo. This is done to illustrate how Soviet nuclear and hydraulic engineers created plans for three energy complexes. At the Southern Ukrainian, Rozhnyatovskij and Kolskij energy complex the technocratic mixture of hydraulic and nuclear traditions manifested itself in remarkable attempts to change the natural environment – as envisioned proof of Soviet technological superiority.

The Southern Ukrainian Energy Complex is still online in independent Ukraine and provides with three Soviet-era nuclear reactors and two hydro power plants a vast amount of electricity of the surrounding provinces. This case encapsulates the theme of this conference perfectly. Since it was the Ukrainian branch of Gidroproekt, which actually lobbied for its construction in 1969/1970, nuclear power plants were during the independence struggle of Ukraine seen as an imperial remnant from Moscow, which needed to be nationalised. While Ukrainian authorities took over the control of the complex after 1991, the country remained dependent upon Russian uranium lifespan services. Given the current warring confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, the Southern Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant started a cooperation with Westinghouse, as an alternative supplier of fuel. In this way, the imperial legacy of Soviet energy complex planning overshadows the enviro-technical system of the southern Bug region even today.