Bilibino () is a town and the administrative center of Bilibinsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located northwest of Anadyr, the administrative center of the autonomous okrug. It is the second largest town in the autonomous okrug after Anadyr. Population: Geography The town of Bilibino was built at the confluence of the Karalveyem and Bolshoy Keperveyem Rivers (Kolyma's basin). Bilibino is on the transition zone between the conifer forest and the tundra of the East Siberian Mountains, southeast of the Pyrkanay Range (Горы Пырканай), southwest of the Rauchuan Range (Раучуанский хребет) and north of the Kyrganay Range and the Chuvan Mountains. History As with much of the rest of Chukotka, the earliest human remains found in the region around Bilibino have been dated to the Early Neolithic, with camp sites having been excavated at Orlovka 2, a site on the banks of the Orlovka River, as well as at Lakes Tytyl and Ilirney. Interest in the area around the present day site of the town began in the 1920s when prospectors including Soviet geologist Yuri Bilibin (1901—1952) discovered gold in the region and began to make assessments regarding the commercial viability of its extraction. In March 1955, gold mining operations commenced and the construction of a settlement started, though at this stage it was little more than a collection of geologists' and prospectors' tents, who had originally been based in Seymchan. Because of his discovery of gold in the region, particularly within the vicinity of the Bolshoy Anyuy and Maly Anyuy Rivers, the geologists named the new settlement after Yury Bilibin, and the new name was officially adopted in February 1956. On September 6, 1958, Bilibino was granted urban-type settlement status. Bilibino's development intensified in the early 1960s when it was joined to the Pevek power grid. On August 2, 1961, Bilibino became the administrative center of the Eastern Tundra District (Rayon Vostochnoy Tundry) which was renamed Bilibino District (Bilibinsky Rayon) on the occasion. In 1965, the Soviet government decided to build the Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant. The construction aided by several hundred volunteers from the Komsomol organization was completed in 1974; by 1976 three additional reactors were put into operation. Town status was granted to Bilibino on June 28, 1993. Administrative and municipal status Within the framework of administrative divisions, Bilibino serves as the administrative center of Bilibinsky District, to which it is directly subordinated. As