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Nine year old Kostya, victim of radiation contamination from Mayak Nuclear Complex in the Ural Mountains in Russia.
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The Soviet Union's nuclear program was launched by Josef Stalin in
response to the US Manhattan project in the 1940's. Three large nuclear
gulags for plutonium production were constructed at remote locations in
the Urals and Siberia.
The plants that produced the fissile materials for the Soviet bomb were "closed cities," the existence of which were kept secret: Mayak ("Lighthouse"), formerly Chelyabinsk-65, in the Ural Mountains near Kyshtym; the underground nuclear complex Zheleznogorsk, formerly Krasnoyarsk-26, and Zeversk, better known as Tomsk-7. All of them have a history of nuclear disasters, environmental contamination, and public health scandals, which were kept secret by the Soviet government.
In September 1957, a steel storage tank containing high-level radioactive waste exploded in Chelyabinsk-65 spreading large amounts of radiation over an area of 23,000 square miles, affecting 272,000 people.
In April 1993, a tank containing a mixture of paraffin and tributyle phosphate exploded at the Tomsk-7 reprocessing plant, resulting in the release of uranium, plutonium and other radioactive substances. An area of more than 100 square kilometres was contaminated.
In total disregard of their disastrous record and the existing radioactive contamination, the cash-strapped Russian Ministry for Atomic Energy (Minatom) wants to import foreign nuclear waste for storage and/or reprocessing at Mayak or Zheleznogorsk.
Hidden in Russia's Southern Ural Mountains, the Mayak Chemical Combine is the world's largest nuclear complex. Over the last five decades it has discharged frightening quantities of radioactivity into the surrounding land and waterways.
Until recently Mayak was omitted from every map of Russia. It is arguably the most nuclear contaminated place on earth. Mayak's operation has been plagued with nuclear accidents, environmental contamination and public health scandals. Yet, rather than decommission and decontaminate the site, in 2001, the Russian parliament overturned the ban on the import of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
The plants that produced the fissile materials for the Soviet bomb were "closed cities," the existence of which were kept secret: Mayak ("Lighthouse"), formerly Chelyabinsk-65, in the Ural Mountains near Kyshtym; the underground nuclear complex Zheleznogorsk, formerly Krasnoyarsk-26, and Zeversk, better known as Tomsk-7. All of them have a history of nuclear disasters, environmental contamination, and public health scandals, which were kept secret by the Soviet government.
In September 1957, a steel storage tank containing high-level radioactive waste exploded in Chelyabinsk-65 spreading large amounts of radiation over an area of 23,000 square miles, affecting 272,000 people.
In April 1993, a tank containing a mixture of paraffin and tributyle phosphate exploded at the Tomsk-7 reprocessing plant, resulting in the release of uranium, plutonium and other radioactive substances. An area of more than 100 square kilometres was contaminated.
In total disregard of their disastrous record and the existing radioactive contamination, the cash-strapped Russian Ministry for Atomic Energy (Minatom) wants to import foreign nuclear waste for storage and/or reprocessing at Mayak or Zheleznogorsk.
Hidden in Russia's Southern Ural Mountains, the Mayak Chemical Combine is the world's largest nuclear complex. Over the last five decades it has discharged frightening quantities of radioactivity into the surrounding land and waterways.
Until recently Mayak was omitted from every map of Russia. It is arguably the most nuclear contaminated place on earth. Mayak's operation has been plagued with nuclear accidents, environmental contamination and public health scandals. Yet, rather than decommission and decontaminate the site, in 2001, the Russian parliament overturned the ban on the import of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
For more information visit the Greenpeace Mayak website.
Find out more:
Remember that renewables are the future!
Read our about story about European nuclear waste arriving in Russia
Check out our video: Europe's secret nuclear waste dumping in Russia revealed
Fined out more about Europe's radioactive secret of dumping in Russia.
Download our Nuclear Glossary.
