Production Association “Mayak”, Ozersk, Russia
“Mayak” is a colossal complex for the production of components of nuclear weapons, isotopes, storage and regeneration of spent nuclear fuel. In 1957, there was a third accident (after the catastrophes in Chernobyl and in Fukushima), an accident in which around 100 tons of radioactive waste landed in the environment. Next came an explosion that polluted a huge territory.
Since then, there have been many emergency situations at the plant, accompanied by emissions.
Coordinates: 55 ° 42’44 “s. w. 60 ° 50’53 “in. e.
Siberian Chemical Combine, Seversk, Russia
The company produces 125,000 tons of solid waste that pollute the groundwater of the surrounding area. According to unofficial data, wind and rain carry these wastes for a long distance.
In 1993, there was a release of radioactive substances into the atmosphere and 1,946 people were exposed to radiation.
Coordinates: 56 ° 38 ‘s. w. 84 ° 54 ‘in. e.
Testing ground, the city of Semipalatinsk (Semey), Kazakhstan
A well-known Kazakhstan polygon occupies a huge area on which a lot of infected objects are located. Here they conducted the first nuclear explosion in the USSR. This polygon is the record holder for the largest concentration of nuclear explosions in the world. There is an artificial lake, which appeared as a result of a nuclear explosion, and many other surprisingly interesting but very dangerous places.
Coordinates: 50 ° 07’00 “s. w. 78 ° 43’00 “in. e.
Western Mining and Chemical Combine, Mailuu-Suu City, Kyrgyzstan
Mailuu-Suu is one of the most polluted places in the world. Uranium is mined here. Annually the company produces and stores near to 2 million cubic meters of radioactive waste.
Coordinates: 41 ° 16’00 “s. w. 72 ° 27’00 “in. e.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Pripyat, Ukraine
The Pripyat River and the city of the same name are still a black obelisk of human activity. Emissions that occurred as a result of the largest man-made disaster, covered even the Volga region, but only the area around the station to this day is a dead zone. In the surrounding areas, there are currently more than 6 million people who are constantly affected by radiation. The nuclear disaster in Chernobyl has emitted 100 times more radiation into the atmosphere than it was thrown out as a result of the explosion of nuclear bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Coordinates: 51 ° 23’22 “s. w. 30 ° 05’59 “in. e.
The Urta-Bulak gas field, Uzbekistan
At this gas field on December 1, 1963, an accident occurred with the release of natural gas. During drilling, an abnormally high reservoir pressure (AVPD) was punctured, containing natural gas at a pressure of about 300 atmospheres. The consequences of the accident were eliminated on September 30, 1966 using a directed nuclear charge. As a result, the well was clamped, the accident was eliminated, but the nearby areas were exposed to radiation contamination.
Coordinates: 38.97 ° N. w. 64.52 ° in. e.
Settlement Aikhal, Russia
At 50 kilometers east of the village of Aikhal, on August 24, 1978, under the project “Kraton-3”, an underground explosion was conducted to study seismic activity. The power was 19 kilotons. As a result of these actions, a large radioactive release to the surface occurred. So large that the incident was recognized by the government. But there are a lot of underground nuclear explosions in Yakutia. The raised background is typical for many places and now.
Coordinates: 65 ° 56’00 “s. w. 111 ° 29’00 “in. e.
Udachninsky ore mining and processing enterprise, city Udachny, Russia
Within the framework of the “Crystal” project, on October 2, 1974, an overground explosion with a capacity of 1.7 kilotons was made 2 kilometers from the town of Udachny. The goal was to create a dam for the Udachninsky ore mining and processing enterprise. Unfortunately, there was also a large release.
Coordinates: 66 ° 26’04 “s. w. 112 ° 18’58 “in. e.
The Pechora-Kama Canal, Krasnovishersk, Russia
On 100 kilometers to the north of Krasnovishersk in the Cherdynsky district of the Perm region on March 23, 1971, the “Taiga” project was implemented. Within its framework, three charges of 5 kilotons were blown up for the construction of the Pechora-Kama Canal. As the explosion was superficial, there was an ejection. Infection has undergone a large area, where, however, today people live.
Coordinates: 61 ° 18’22 “with. w. 56 ° 35’54 “in. e.
569th coastal technical base, Andreeva Bay, Russia
The location of spent nuclear fuel storage is 55 kilometers north-west of Murmansk and 60 kilometers from the Norwegian border on the West Face Bay. In February 1982, there was a radiation accident – a leak of radioactive water from the pool. The liquidation of the consequences took six years. During this period more than 700 thousand tons of highly radioactive water flowed into the Barents Sea. Now this place is empty. The infection was so serious that its effects will be felt for a very long time.
Coordinates: 69 ° 27 ‘s. w. 32 ° 21 ‘in. e.
Polygon “Globus-1”, village Galkino, Russia
Here in 1971, another peaceful underground explosion was carried out under the Globus-1 project. Again for the purpose of seismic sounding. Because of poor-quality cementation of the wellbore to place the charge, the substances were released into the atmosphere and into the Shachu River. This place is the zone of technogenic contamination closest to Moscow, officially recognized.
Coordinates: 57 ° 31’00 “s. w. 42 ° 36’43 “in. e.
Mine “Yunkom”, the city of Donetsk, Ukraine
The so-called Cleavage object. Behind the beautiful name lies an underground nuclear explosion with a capacity of 0.3 kilotons, which was carried out on the territory of the Donetsk region of the Ukrainian SSR, on the eastern wing of the Yunkom mine. Serious emissions did not occur, but at the moment the mine is filled with water, and environmentalists are reasonably afraid of contaminating groundwater over a large area.
Coordinates: 48 ° 13’14 “s. w. 38 ° 16’26 “in. e.
Chazhma Bay, Nakhodka, Russia
Here in August 1985, an accident on the nuclear submarine K-431 of Project 675 took place at the pier of the shipyard of the Navy. Pollution occupies an area of about 100 thousand square meters. After elimination of the accident, the boat was towed for long-term storage to Pavlovsky Bay along with the K-42 Rostov Rostov Komsomolets submarine of Project 627A due to radiation pollution as a result of the same accident.
Coordinates: 42 ° 54’02 “s. w. 132 ° 21’08 “in. e.
Gas condensate field, Krestishche village, Ukraine
Here, another unsuccessful experiment was conducted to use a nuclear explosion for peaceful purposes. More precisely, to eliminate the leakage of gas from the field, which could not be stopped for a whole year. The explosion was accompanied by a release, a characteristic fungus and contamination of nearby territories. There is no official data on the radiation background for that and the current moment.
Coordinates: 49 ° 33’33 “sec. w. 35 ° 28’25 “in. e.
Totsky polygon, the city of Buzuluk, Russia
Once upon a time there was an experiment called “Snowball” – the first test of the impact of the consequences of a nuclear explosion on people. During the exercises, the Tu-4 bomber dropped a nuclear bomb with a capacity of 38 kilotons in TNT equivalent. Approximately three hours after the explosion, 45,000 servicemen were sent to the contaminated territory. The units are alive. The deactivated polygon at the moment is unknown.
Coordinates: 52 ° 38 ‘s. w. 52 ° 48 ‘in. e.
A more detailed list of radioactive places can be found here.
