Nuclear Pollution Plagues Former Soviet Union

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Imagine visiting the beautiful Russian Lake Karachay only to drop dead an hour later from lethal nuclear pollution (Zimmerman). This radiation began in the mid 1940s. The Soviet Union built a secret city in Southern Urals called Ozyorsk and constructed the Mayak plutonium plant, formerly known as Chelyabinsk-40 and later as Chelyabinsk-65 after the postal codes of the site (Wikipedia contributors). Nuclear weapons began to be produced in much of a hasty, reckless manner considering no plans to get rid of waste were thought through. After three years of dumping waste into the Techa River, which provided water for about 39 towns and villages, profecionalists found the river was emitting "5 rontgens of radiation an hour" (Handley). Andrew Handley, a researcher, claims thousands of villIgers had to be relocated, and for the next 40 years, Lake Karachay would be the primary waste resivor. Not only has this pollution become a threat to Russia, but if the dam containing Lake Karachay were to break, the water could bleed into the Atlantic Ocean, threatening wild life and the water cycle. That being said, Russia is responsible for whatever damage the lake has caused in the past. Nuclear production should have never began without taking extreme safety precautions. Now that they've gotten themselves into this pickle, however, it again is their responsibility to insure the contamination does not spread by keeping a close eye on it. Perhaps Soviet Russia also pay for the damages and health problems the radiation has caused.

According to researcher Allan Bellows, Chronic Radiation Syndrome began to flare through workers of the nuclear plutonium as pollution started to accumulate. Employers complained of suffering soreness, low bloo...

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.... 2014.

This source described Lake Karachay today, and what happened to the operating system for the nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union.

Wikipedia contributors. "Mayak." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 24 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Wikipedia gave me information about the Mayak company. I used this source because it helped me understand where the pollution originated from.

ZAITCHIK, ALEXANDER. "Inside the Zone." Freezerbox Magazine. N.p., 17 Oct. 2017. Web. 11

Feb. 2014.

I used this source as more incite as to what happened during the vat explosions. The author writes long and in detail about all of the incidents that have come along since the Mayak company began its production. This added to my background information.

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