Ust-Ilimsk is a Russian town in the northwest of the Irkutsk Region, the administrative center of the Ust-Ilimsk District.

The town is located in the east of the Priangarsky Plateau, 700 km to the north of Irkutsk. It is a pier on the Angara River. It stands 18 km away from the railway station.

The town with the area of 227 sq.km has the population of 84 315 people (as of 2013).

History of Ust-Ilimsk

Ust-Ilimsk was founded as a settlement of builders due to construction of the Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station in 1966.

It was an industrial community from 1967 and became a town in 1973. The name of the Ilim River (the right inflow of Angara) that it was named after is supposedly associated with the Yakut word “Ilim” that stands for a fishing net.