Chelyabinsk-65 Plutonium Plant | radiation, nuclear reactor, radiation control, nuclear reprocessing site

Russia / Cheljabinsk / Novogornyy /
 radiation, nuclear reactor, radiation control, nuclear reprocessing site
Cover name: "Mayak Production Association". This was the first plutonium production plant in the USSR, operational from 1948 to 1990. There were 5 production reactors and several extraction plants.

Soviet Russia was in such a rush to match the USA production of nuclear weapons during the late 40s/early 50s that factory couldn't keep up with the high-level radioactive waste, and dumped it into the nearest body of water. There are 7 lakes and ponds around the base that were used as open-air plutonium waste dumps for decades. Waste was also dumped directly into the Techa River, poisoning the villagers downstream.

Since 1953 waste was stored in tanks. In 1957 one of storage tanks exploded due to failure of cooling system. Radioactive waste heavily contaminated the entire area as well as a large chunk of territory to the north-east called the East-Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT). It has been assessed as the 2nd worst radioactive accident since Chernobyl.

After storage plan failed, waste was dumped in Lake Karachay, just south of the plant. It is now the most radioactive location on earth, containing 75% of the radioactive material released in the entire Chernobyl disaster. Every time the lake dries up a little the sediment dust blows into the air and contaminates the whole area even more.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayak
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   55°42'17"N   60°53'55"E

Comments

  • The Mayak factory is hands-down the most horribly polluted manufacturing facility for nuclear material in the world. They have literally poisoned the entire area. They were in such a rush to match the US's production of nuclear weapons during the late 40s/early 50s that they couldn't keep up with the high-level waste, and basically just dumped it into the nearest body of water. There's 7 lakes and ponds around the base that were literally used as open-air plutonium waste dumps for decades. They even dumped it directly into the Techa River, which started poisoning the villagers downstream. When they tried to start storing the waste in tanks in 1957, a storage tank blew up and heavily contaminated the entire area as well as a large chunk of territory to the north-east called the East-Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT). It has been assessed as the 2nd worst radioactive accident since Chernobyl. After this plan failed, they started dumping the high-level waste in Lake Karachay, just south of the plant. It's now the most radioactive location on earth, containing 75% of the radioactive material released in the entire Chernobyl disaster. Cvery time the lake dries up a little the sediment dust blows into the air and contaminates the whole area even worse. I nominate the Mayak plant and the entire Chelyabinsk-65/Ozyorsk area as the most horrifying slice of Hell on earth.
  • Just now this nuclear plant is desctibed in the news on Swedish Radio! This is because of the fires in the woods surrounding the site. Even the disaster in 1957 is described.
  • Third largest nuclear disaster in the world, that's pretty awful.
This article was last modified 8 years ago