«One of the Creators of the World’s First Nuclear Power Plant» – on the 115th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Kapitonovich Krasin, a nuclear energy scientist, Honored Scientist and Engineer of Belarus, and Director of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR

May 21, 2026, marked the 115th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Kapitonovich Krasin, a nuclear energy scientist, Honored Scientist and Engineer of Belarus, and Director of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR.

A.K.Krasin was one of the leaders and participants in the creation of the world’s first nuclear power plant in Obninsk, initiated and supervised the development of reactors for the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, and participated in the creation of the first mobile nuclear power plant (TPP-3). In 1961, A.K.Krasin became head of the Nuclear Power Department of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, and in 1965, he headed the institute itself.

A promotional video for the exhibition «One of the Creators of the World’s First Nuclear Power Plant» has been posted on the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents YouTube channel in honor of the 115th anniversary of Andrei Kapitonovich Krasin’s birth.

Currently, the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents holds 20 photo documents from 1957 to 1981 and five film documents from 1970 to 1979 related to A.K.Krasin’s work.

Photographic and film documents (such as the documentaries «Arsenal of Progress» (1970), «I Hear the News» (1970), and «Achievements and Prospects of Nuclear Energy» (1979)) allow us to see A.K.Krasin at work in the laboratory and during meetings with colleagues.

In 2011, the television program «Countdown» was broadcast. «The Fight for the Atom. Half-Life». Its plot utilized newsreel footage of Academician A.K.Krasin.

Academician A.K.Krasin made a huge contribution to the development of both Soviet and global nuclear energy. He authored over 350 scientific papers, including three monographs, and was instrumental in training scientific personnel.

Andrei Kapitonovich Krasin died on March 28, 1981, and is buried in Minsk at the Eastern Cemetery.

Academician Krasin Street in Minsk’s Zavodskoy District is named after A.K.Krasin.

1. C1-0610 Head of the Atomic Energy Department of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor A.K.Krasin (left) in the laboratory, 1961, Minsk. Photo Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

2. C1-0609 Head of the Atomic Energy Department of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor A.K.Krasin (second from left) in the laboratory, 1961, Minsk. Photo Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

3. 0-079690 Speech by A.K.Krasin, Director of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Lenin Prize laureate, at the evening dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding scientist in the field of physics and chemistry, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, held in the hall of the Belarusian State University named after V.I.Lenin, December 16, 1967, Minsk. Photo Library of BelOKS, V.Kozlov

4. 1-014535 A.K.Krasin, Director of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist and Engineer of the BSSR (3rd row, 2nd from left) at the 4th UN International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, 1971, Geneva. Photo Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

5. C0-1663 Director of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist and Engineer of the BSSR A.K.Krasin (left) and Deputy Director of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor I.I.Salamatov, 1975, Minsk. Photo Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

6. 0-117175 Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Lenin Prize laureate A.K.Krasin (4th from left), Deputy Head of the Hydrogen Energy Laboratory of the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, USSR State Prize laureate M.E.Ershov (2nd from left) and others during a tour of the hydrogen bacteria laboratory at the S.O.Pritytsky Grodno Production Association «Azot», 1980, Grodno, Photo Library of the Grodno Production Association «Azot», G.Zolotukhin

7. 1-014533 Head of the Hydrogen Energy Laboratory of the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist and Engineer of the BSSR A.K.Krasin (center) among BSU staff named after V.I.Lenin, 1981, Minsk. Photo Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

8. 2-3102 Head of the Hydrogen Energy Laboratory of the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor A.K.Krasin in his office, 1981, Minsk, Photo Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

9. 1-014532 A.K.Krasin, Head of the Hydrogen Energy Laboratory of the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist and Engineer of the BSSR, 1981, Minsk, Photo Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

10. 0-119575 People’s Writer of the BSSR, Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Hero of Socialist Labor Kondrat Krapiva and Head of the Hydrogen Energy Laboratory of the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer A.K.Krasin, Head of the Hydrogen Energy Laboratory at the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Professor, Honored Scientist and Engineer of the BSSR, during a break between sessions of the 29th Congress of the Communist Party of Belarus, 1981, Minsk. Photo Library of the Editorial Board of the Sovetskaya Belorussia Newspaper, L. Papkovich

11.1-014530 A.K. Krasin, Head of the Hydrogen Energy Laboratory at the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist and Engineer of the BSSR /portrait/, 1981, Minsk. Photo Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus