Bilibinsky District

Bilibinsky District (Russian: Били́бинский райо́н; Chukot: Билибинкэн район, Bilibinkèn rajon) is an administrative and municipal district (raion), one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located in the west of the autonomous okrug and borders with Chaunsky District in the northeast, Anadyrsky District in the east, Koryak Okrug of Kamchatka Krai in the southeast, Magadan Oblast in the southwest, and the Sakha Republic in the west. The area of the district is 174,652 square kilometers (67,434 sq mi). Its administrative center is the town of Bilibino. Population: 7,418 (2021 census); 7,866 (2010 census); 8,820 (2002 census); 27,847 (1989 Soviet census). The population of Bilibino accounts for 74.8% of the district's total population. Archeological finds indicate that the territory of what is now Bilibinsky District was first inhabited in the early Neolithic. Following the establishment of Anadyrsk by Semyon Dezhnyov in the 17th century, the Bolshoy Anyuy River, which flows through the modern district, was an important link between the Cossack explorers and their base in Nizhnekolymsk and facilitated interactions between the Cossacks and the indigenous people. Gold and other minerals were discovered in the 20th century, and in the 1970s the world's smallest and most northerly nuclear power station was built in Bilibino.