Volgodonsk is a Russian city in the Rostov Region.

One of the youngest cities in the south of Russia, it was founded on July 27, 1950 as a settlement of operators of the Tsimlyansk water-engineering system. It is a large industrial and scientific center of the southeast of the Rostov Region, the geographical and commercial and industrial center of 12 rural districts, and the power center of the South of Russia. One of the city-forming enterprises is the Rostov (Volgodonsk) nuclear power plant. The city is also the center of the Volgodonsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

It has population of 170 100 people (as of 2013).

Volgodonsk is located on the left bank of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir, on the Don River, near the dam of the Tsimlyansk hydroelectric power station, 190 km to the east of Rostov-on-Don. It is a river port and the Volgodonsk railway station.

Its territory makes 169 sq. km.

History of Volgodonsk

It was founded in 1950 due to construction of the Volga-Don ship canal and the Tsimlyansk hydroelectric power station near the Romanovskaya Village and the Solyeny Farm, as the Volgodonsk Settlement formed from settlements of builders and operators of the Volga-Don ship canal. Its name brought together the names of two rivers - Volga and Don - though stands on Don, at the mouth of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir.

It became a town in 1956.

In 1977 construction of the Rostov nuclear power plant was started, and the first power unit was launched in 2001. It was the first nuclear power plant started in Russia after the Chernobyl accident of 1986.

In 2004 the Krasnoyarskaya and Solenovskaya villages were included into the city boundaries.

The main part of the city’s residential area consists of micro-districts of 5 to 9-storeyed houses built in the 1960s-80s.