Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Unit No.3 Shutdown (15, December 2000)

On December 15, 2000, at 13:17 on the order of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, by turning the key, the reactor of the power unit No. 3 was stopped for good.
The decision on the early decommissioning of the power unit No. 3 and the final closure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was taken by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on March 29, 2000. The reason for such actions was Ukraine's obligations to the world community, recorded in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the G-7 countries and the Commission of the European Community on the Closure of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The Memorandum was signed on December 25, 1995.