Lake Karachay: The USSR’s Deadly Nuclear Lake

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  • čas přidán 22. 12. 2020
  • USSR. Nuclear energy. Sigh.
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    Source/Further reading:
    New Scientist, Russia’s Toxic Shocker: www.newscientist.com/article/...
    Nuclear Engineering Magazine on the clean-up: www.neimagazine.com/news/news...
    Nuclear Threat Initiative overview: www.nti.org/learn/facilities/...
    Bellona environment group on the clean-up: bellona.org/news/russian-huma...
    Natural Resources Defense Council overview: www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf...
    Bellona, Kyshtym disaster: bellona.org/news/nuclear-issu...
    Britannica: www.britannica.com/event/Kysh...
    City 40 general overview: www.theguardian.com/cities/20...
    Mayak villagers’ tragedy: www.rferl.org/a/russia-mayak-...
    2016 documentary on City 40: • Video
    Interview with an American scientist who worked there: medicine.utah.edu/radiology/n...
    First Lightning: www.history.com/this-day-in-h...
    Bomb yield comparisons: graphics.reuters.com/LEBANON-...

Komentáře • 1,5K

  • @yourmajesty7386
    @yourmajesty7386 Před 3 lety +1774

    I grew up in Chelyabinsk. Half the people I knew are dead of cancer, some as young as 20. Simon isn't bullshitting about any of this. That place is fucked with a capitol F.

    • @dominusetdeus060644
      @dominusetdeus060644 Před 3 lety +30

      What was life there?

    • @tomas_g8699
      @tomas_g8699 Před 3 lety +39

      How big radiation was there? If you know pls tell in roengens.

    • @alexwattaul7237
      @alexwattaul7237 Před 3 lety +75

      Make sure to collect on that $15 payout

    • @cowsharkdefin6376
      @cowsharkdefin6376 Před 3 lety +23

      I hope you're ok. Wherever you're living now, does it have good healthcare?

    • @lextuomr3291
      @lextuomr3291 Před 3 lety +36

      Thats is sad and Fucked.
      Hope the best health there for you.

  • @derigelfisch3776
    @derigelfisch3776 Před 3 lety +2531

    USSR during Chernobyl: "Don't worry guys, we got this. We've dealt with nuclear disaster cleanup before"
    Literally everyone else: "You have WHAT?"

    • @nataliewisdom4790
      @nataliewisdom4790 Před 3 lety +45

      Lmao

    • @vonfaustien3957
      @vonfaustien3957 Před 3 lety +170

      Meanwhile the CIA is walking away whistling and thinking shit hope it doesnt come out we knew about the fuck up and covered it up ourselves it to avoid antinuke sentiment in north America

    • @davidhughes1070
      @davidhughes1070 Před 3 lety +11

      Why did you say literally before you said everyone?

    • @KPX-nl4nt
      @KPX-nl4nt Před 3 lety +34

      @@vonfaustien3957 Is this just another conspiracy theory or do you have proof? I’d like to see that evidence.

    • @BackYardScience2000
      @BackYardScience2000 Před 3 lety +73

      @@KPX-nl4nt asking for proof about something that the CIA did. 😂

  • @drewping2002
    @drewping2002 Před 3 lety +930

    In Soviet Russia, Fallout plays YOU!

  • @louisvanbastenbatenburg8649
    @louisvanbastenbatenburg8649 Před 3 lety +1514

    The USSR, the only country that has had more nuclear disasters than Simon has youtube channels

    • @michellezimmerman8019
      @michellezimmerman8019 Před 3 lety +13

      That are all so good, though...

    • @shilka7020
      @shilka7020 Před 3 lety +26

      @@michellezimmerman8019His channels are the Yin to the USSR's nuclear disasters Yang

    • @samiraperi467
      @samiraperi467 Před 3 lety +43

      TBF, USA classified some of its disasters as "experiments". (*cough*Bikini for one*cough*)

    • @gregparrott
      @gregparrott Před 3 lety +5

      Heck, it appears that they've had more accidents than Homer has had episode of 'The Simpsons'.

    • @adder3597
      @adder3597 Před 3 lety +29

      @@samiraperi467 You're not wrong, though half the US nuclear fuckups were with badly planned nuclear tests.
      Half the Soviet mistakes were nothing to do with nuclear testing.

  • @annapmark536
    @annapmark536 Před 2 lety +59

    About 'those poor bastards': in one Chernobyl documentary the narrator, a plant worker, mentions how he as a kid once went to his grandparents to the Ural mountains... only to be evacuated and have his clothes taken away and destroyed because of, you guessed it, the Kyshtym disaster. So there's at least one poor bastard that managed to be present at both Soviet nuclear disasters

  • @josephatthecoop
    @josephatthecoop Před 3 lety +474

    Butte, Montana: "We have a lake so full of mine waste that migrating birds die after landing in it."
    Soviet Russia: "Hold my Vodka..."

    • @zabdas83
      @zabdas83 Před 3 lety +5

      Wow - really! Whats the story to that, have the Mines/Coporations/CEOs etc been prosecuted? Is there any kind of clean up planned???

    • @josephatthecoop
      @josephatthecoop Před 3 lety +49

      @@zabdas83 It's called the Berkeley Pit. A mile long, 1/2 mile wide, and 1/3 of a mile deep. It was an open pit mine. Originally there was a classic tunnel mine following rich veins of copper, but in the 1950's they said "screw it, we'll just take apart the whole mountain." It was cheaper and safer, but I'm sure the "cheaper" part was their main concern. In 1982 they closed the mine and turned off the water pumps because hey, no one's mining any more. The water filling it up has become pretty acidic thanks to the sulfites in the rock, and it leaches lots of heavy metals out of the rocks thanks to the acidity. We're talking toxic amounts copper, iron, arsenic, cadmium, etc. Thousands of snow geese have died after landing on it. The mine owners, of course, claim that all the geese *just happened* to catch some fatal disease all on the same day.... I guess calling it mine waste isn't 100% accurate, because it's not like they dumped everything in there. It's more like they put everything in place for the disaster to happen and then walked away. The original owners were the Anaconda Mining company; their successors are Atlantic Richfield (aka ARCO, now part of BP). It's one of the biggest superfund sites, and ARCO is still on the hook for some of the costs, and supposedly are forever. They are working on ways to pump out the water and take the toxic metals from it. I've read someone has actually mined *the water* and gotten usable amounts of copper from it. Not far away in the town of Anaconda, they are also cleaning up the soil from all the stuff that came out of the smelters: same toxic metals, different delivery system. As far as I know there were never any prosecutions.

    • @zabdas83
      @zabdas83 Před 3 lety +11

      @@josephatthecoop Thanks for the reply. Yeah its such a shame that 'some' of us would sacrfice this earth/life for an extra $.
      Just like Exxon Valdize or Deepwater Horizon - coroprate greed is mostly to blame for these natural disaters.
      Its only gona worse, as more sell out for the gods of Mammon...

    • @dx1450
      @dx1450 Před 3 lety +1

      @@josephatthecoop And wasn't one of the major problems with the toxic lake that it kept filling up and was in danger of overflowing it's banks?

    • @steffenrosmus9177
      @steffenrosmus9177 Před 2 lety +5

      @@zabdas83 are you kidding? Butt is in the USA were companies buy politians no matter if they are Blue or RED.

  • @dx1450
    @dx1450 Před 3 lety +82

    "People knew not to go sunbathing there."
    Au contraire, my friend, you could get a sun tan in about three minutes, even at night. And your skin would have that healthy glow afterwards...

    • @MelbaOzzie
      @MelbaOzzie Před 2 lety +10

      Yes, but as you glow in the dark, think of what you save on lighting bills.

    • @karvast5726
      @karvast5726 Před 2 lety +2

      "Unless you are here for a green sun tan i suggest we get a move on"
      Nick Valentine in fallout 4

    • @yasminout
      @yasminout Před 2 lety

      You go out there looking like Green Lantern

  • @lunagal
    @lunagal Před 2 lety +167

    The disaster at Kyshtym was known prior to Chernobyl. I first read about Kyshtym in 1983, while researching nuclear power. Scientists had read the radiation levels coming from Russia and suspected “something” happened. A Soviet scientist defected and verified it.

    • @georgekaplan6451
      @georgekaplan6451 Před rokem +14

      I think it was unknown in the west until 1976 when the Soviet defector revealed it.

    • @EyeKnowRaff
      @EyeKnowRaff Před 11 měsíci

      NSA & CIA probably knew before that with the Corona satellites.

    • @RobertB168
      @RobertB168 Před 10 měsíci +2

      Yes I read about Kystym in the 1980s. There was a lot of research coming out a out the effects of large scale nuclear contamination, and it was possible to work out roughly what caused it.

  • @sashakazmar6142
    @sashakazmar6142 Před 3 lety +258

    I was born and raised in Chelyabinsk.
    Love all the USSR episodes because I learn a lot about its history that was not taught in schools back then.

    • @matthewburns9409
      @matthewburns9409 Před rokem +1

      How was it? Do you still live in Russia or got out?
      What do you make of the Russia today?

    • @rheinhardtgrafvonthiesenha8185
      @rheinhardtgrafvonthiesenha8185 Před rokem +2

      The truth is likely somewhere in the middle

    • @westzed23
      @westzed23 Před rokem +5

      A neighbour was in Ukraine when Chernobyl happened. By the time they found out it was days later. She said that if that was how the people were treated, they were leaving. They were fine but other family wasn't.

    • @jamespyacek2691
      @jamespyacek2691 Před rokem +1

      @@westzed23 Kinda tells you one reason East Europe countries wanted nothing to do with the Soviet "Union".

    • @superturkeylegs
      @superturkeylegs Před rokem +2

      Why are gulags so taboo to discuss in Russia? I've read Gulag Archipelago and Kolyma Stories. Not to sound insensitive, but that generation is dying off without being able to tell their story.

  • @nikolairubinskii6450
    @nikolairubinskii6450 Před 3 lety +66

    Kyshtym 1957 has still not been fully declassified and the cleaners of that mess could never get any compensation, not even what Chernobyl's liquidators could get. My mother's family is somewhere from those polluted lands and we went visiting when I was 3 or 4 yo, for a couple of weeks. My lil brother who was brought with us was still giving off a slightly higher than ambient radiation readings 15 years later at a science class in school.

  • @ANVofG
    @ANVofG Před 3 lety +805

    Hope KGB won't read this. I'm from City 40 (Ozyersk) and got some remarks. Firstly, excluding german gulag prisoners, people were allowed to send letters to their families even in early years. Secondly, Techa isn't related to the word tech lol, "ch" sounds just like in word "change". Thirdly, Kyshtym is farther south from place of the explosion than City 40 itself and not in the affected area. Fun stories: Mayak workers used to tell their families that they work at a Chocolate factory, because of this and high standards of living they're called "Шоколадники" (sounds like *shock all ad nick E*) which means "Chocolate men". After explosion in 1957 people have been told that glowing sky they saw was aurora borealis. Yes, at this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country. Feel free to ask questions.

    • @RJStockton
      @RJStockton Před rokem +71

      What do Russians call steamed hams?

    • @baseballworldwide9439
      @baseballworldwide9439 Před rokem +5

      @@RJStockton let’s talk about Africans, that ok?

    • @petere___r
      @petere___r Před rokem +12

      Can you tell more about the german men who was forced to work in that area ?

    • @royalty1149
      @royalty1149 Před rokem +15

      im doing a project on lake karachay for school. I find it disgusting that the USSR did this to the lake, but i also find it interesting that they actually have a city by it. Best of luck to you, sir.

    • @archlich4489
      @archlich4489 Před rokem +37

      Who cares if the FSB reads that. Hey FSB: подпрыгивать твоя задница!

  • @rosiehawtrey
    @rosiehawtrey Před 3 lety +70

    There were roadsigns "floor it, and don't stop" in Russian - a Lada 1500 flat out might make 105mph. It was a criminal offence to stop. They burnt down the houses so no one could move in afterwards. It's now a "nature reserve".

    • @AB-80X
      @AB-80X Před rokem +11

      A very fenced off "nature reserve".

  • @nootnoot6404
    @nootnoot6404 Před 3 lety +284

    So basically, 1967 saw the first Fallout 4 Rad-storm. But this one will actually melt your face

  • @BarkingShark
    @BarkingShark Před 3 lety +174

    The keyword is "other great disaster" cause Aral Sea? Chernobyl? Anthrax accident? Nuke testing? USSR was truly wildin'.

    • @namenloss730
      @namenloss730 Před 3 lety +32

      I still remember my tanky classmates in college telling me that communism is the solution to our pollution problems :)

    • @momokochama1844
      @momokochama1844 Před 3 lety +22

      @@namenloss730 I'm from east germany and could tell your classmate some stories about pollution :) look up the cities Leuna, Bitterfeld/Wolfen or Borna
      synonymous for environmental catastrophes

    • @Dinitroflurbenzol
      @Dinitroflurbenzol Před 3 lety +5

      @@momokochama1844 "nennen Sie einen besseren Luftkurort als Bitterfeld!"
      "Bhophal"

    • @auntiejen5376
      @auntiejen5376 Před 3 lety

      They wanted the bomb no matter the cost.

    • @nydra9912
      @nydra9912 Před 3 lety +1

      @@auntiejen5376 dont they all?

  • @TheProtagonistDies
    @TheProtagonistDies Před 3 lety +512

    This guy was born to narrate

    • @stipe3124
      @stipe3124 Před 3 lety +13

      Number of channels that he does narrate prove you are right

    • @michaelhood5221
      @michaelhood5221 Před 3 lety +7

      This guy? His name is Simon

    • @birttheintern8509
      @birttheintern8509 Před 3 lety +28

      @@michaelhood5221 allegedly...

    • @michaelhood5221
      @michaelhood5221 Před 3 lety +5

      @@birttheintern8509 my man allegedly

    • @kirkjohnson9353
      @kirkjohnson9353 Před 3 lety +24

      He really WAS born to narrate- which his mother found to be very annoying during breastfeeding and diaper change.

  • @annonannon6712
    @annonannon6712 Před 3 lety +665

    I love the USSR content, its like peaking behind the iron curtain (even though it is technically gone you know what I mean)

    • @annonannon6712
      @annonannon6712 Před 3 lety +6

      @UCQlyaSllGfK1nzby-QbH5LA I totally agree!

    • @humanipulationnation
      @humanipulationnation Před 3 lety +14

      ☭ fascinating fascism ☭

    • @supersportzcom
      @supersportzcom Před 3 lety +9

      Peeking? Peaking on shrooms behind iron curtain would be fun as well

    • @Claytone-Records
      @Claytone-Records Před 3 lety +10

      Lead curtain might be more appropriate.

    • @nonnobissolum
      @nonnobissolum Před 3 lety +19

      Using "peaking" instead of "peeking" is piquing my interest. Yes, call me a pedant, words and spelling matter, as does attention to detail.

  • @notquiteatory971
    @notquiteatory971 Před 3 lety +520

    I’m beginning to feel that the USSR was an exercise in human irresponsibility

    • @SM-pv4sn
      @SM-pv4sn Před 3 lety +120

      Beginning? I can assure you, the more you learn about the communist totalitarian states, the more it becomes clear they were among the greatest crimes against humanity ever comitted.

    • @thegunslinger1363
      @thegunslinger1363 Před 3 lety +56

      You should look up the Khmer Rouge. If you think this is bad.

    • @KPX-nl4nt
      @KPX-nl4nt Před 3 lety +46

      @@thegunslinger1363 True. They were so hardcore that even Vietnam decided they were too much and crushed them.

    • @DieFlabbergast
      @DieFlabbergast Před 3 lety +17

      Don't worry, pretty soon they're going to replicate it somewhere else, possibly the USA.

    • @ME262MKI
      @ME262MKI Před 3 lety +17

      And we didnt learn nothing, people keep waving that discusting flag, praising their "leaders" like heroes in T-shirts and banners, they should be treated worst that the nazis

  • @QueenetBowie
    @QueenetBowie Před 3 lety +300

    Everyone keeps says they love the USSR content, you’d probably enjoy modern Russian stories, they’re equally as depressing and in real time

    • @alekswade5444
      @alekswade5444 Před 3 lety +4

      If he is reading these comments, you should do a modern russian story

    • @jokuvaan5175
      @jokuvaan5175 Před 3 lety +37

      I watched a documentary about Russia's waste management and it's just god awful. Corruption everywhere, no recycling, everything from food waste to pain cans to car batteries just dumped to poorly regulated and often illegal landfills. Blooms of toxic gas from some landfills make you literally vomit and have put men women and children to hospital.

    • @Jake_Hamlin
      @Jake_Hamlin Před 3 lety +12

      @@jokuvaan5175 sounds like China..

    • @AverageUsernames
      @AverageUsernames Před 2 lety

      @@Jake_Hamlin A bit "better" kinda.

    • @AB-80X
      @AB-80X Před rokem

      Russia is one giant mistake. Everything about it is depressing.

  • @sixstringedthing
    @sixstringedthing Před 3 lety +83

    If you're ever offered a promotion that involves relocating to a city with a number after its name, it's probably time to start polishing up your resumé.

    • @MrCenturion13
      @MrCenturion13 Před 2 lety +3

      And packing your bags...

    • @sixstringedthing
      @sixstringedthing Před 2 lety +9

      @@MrCenturion13 ...and speaking to That Guy who promised he could get you and your family out of the country for 'a quite reasonable fee'...

    • @CptJistuce
      @CptJistuce Před 2 lety +7

      I don't believe the USSR usually extended "offers". I guess you COULD refuse... if you wanted to end up in an unmarked grave somewhere.

    • @Igrikh_Leyboviz
      @Igrikh_Leyboviz Před 2 lety +3

      You fucked up even more if you offered to relocate in City 17

    • @Joearebarba
      @Joearebarba Před 2 lety

      Gorky 17

  • @nikolairubinskii6450
    @nikolairubinskii6450 Před 3 lety +46

    Radioactive cloud from the 1957 explosion was glowing so bright in the night Ural sky that a local newspaper had to come up with a cover-up story a week later calling the glow a rare aurora event.

    • @comment8767
      @comment8767 Před 10 měsíci

      Bunk. If it was glowing, it was from sunlight at high latitudes at twilight.

  • @31webseries
    @31webseries Před 3 lety +95

    New goal in life: Not to be referred to as one of "those poor bastards" in a future historian's broadcast.

    • @rudra62
      @rudra62 Před 2 lety +5

      I'm already certain that I won't be. In a few more decades, human stupidity will make humankind extinct, so no one will be around to document whatever happened to me.

  • @DrMuFFinMan
    @DrMuFFinMan Před 2 lety +10

    I imagine living in Russia is like getting punched in the privates every time you wake, sleep, eat, or have a thought.

  • @davidelliott5843
    @davidelliott5843 Před 3 lety +21

    Stalin killed at least one city when he switched off their power to feed his nuclear bomb plants. He literally left them to freeze. The whole approach to manufacturing nuclear bombs was equally brutal. This polluted lake should be no surprise.

  • @ignitionfrn2223
    @ignitionfrn2223 Před 3 lety +53

    1:15 - Chapter 1 - Secret city
    5:00 - Chapter 2 - 1st lightning
    8:45 - Chapter 3 - The forgotten chernobyl
    12:15 - Chapter 4 - The clouds of death
    15:50 - Chapter 5 - Clean up

  • @jacobhuff3748
    @jacobhuff3748 Před 3 lety +78

    Good old fashion Soviet mega disasters. Aralsk-7, the Drying of the Aral Sea, Chernobyl and more. One of the few areas that Soviet Union still ranks #1 til this day.

    • @mattropolis99
      @mattropolis99 Před 2 lety

      And then don't forget about the *planned* genocides of 'undesirable' ethnic groups that killed 100,000's.

    • @dominichamilton7839
      @dominichamilton7839 Před rokem

      And none of it was they're fault 😂😂😂

  • @jasonlib1996
    @jasonlib1996 Před 3 lety +18

    "sending the tanks lid, zooming off in the general direction of pluto" why do i love this line so much?

  • @StormsparkPegasus
    @StormsparkPegasus Před 3 lety +166

    The explosion in the tank was caused by ammonium nitrate (same chemical as the 2020 Beiruit explosion). Once everything got heated up to about 350C, it basically became a massive fertilizer bomb. That just happened to have a bunch of nasty radioactive salts mixed in, which made it a massive fertilizer dirty bomb. Even though the one at Beiruit was much larger due to there being a LOT more ammonium nitrate, there wasn't any radioactive material stored with it in Beiruit, so it was just a big boom.

    • @ursodermatt8809
      @ursodermatt8809 Před 2 lety +2

      yeah ok, i can sleep better now

    • @mrshhjj8899
      @mrshhjj8899 Před rokem +5

      'just a big boom', a girl I know lived on the other side of town, literally 6 km fro mthe blast area and I saw a picture from her flat apt with teh entire windowframe shot out into the room.
      You will be sure to remember that 'just a big boom' for the rest of your life if you were there :P

    • @christopherfritz3840
      @christopherfritz3840 Před rokem

      That's utterly chilling..

    • @calebbean1384
      @calebbean1384 Před rokem +9

      ​@@mrshhjj8899 but she won't die from radiation so that's nice

    • @mrshhjj8899
      @mrshhjj8899 Před rokem

      @@calebbean1384 Nope, it's just her country dieing in front of her eyes. Also partially due to USA ruining everything

  • @grrlpurpleable
    @grrlpurpleable Před 3 lety +137

    Correction, "ONE of Russia's OTHER nuclear disasters". Chernobyl, Karachay, Semipalatinsk and I am sure there are others.

    • @SyedImranTowhid
      @SyedImranTowhid Před 3 lety +17

      If you search Tomsk 7 nuclear disaster, you will find another deadly one.

    • @stanislavkostarnov2157
      @stanislavkostarnov2157 Před 3 lety +20

      Shevchenko Sodium-Reactor Desalination Plant accident... on the shores of Kazakhstan
      a towns high-street being flooded ankle deep in fuel-grade radioactive ammonium.

    • @davynhainstock7503
      @davynhainstock7503 Před 3 lety +2

      Nuclear sub accidents?

    • @Dont_Tread_on_Me448
      @Dont_Tread_on_Me448 Před 3 lety +2

      @@stanislavkostarnov2157 wtf , what happened to all the people of that town??

    • @stanislavkostarnov2157
      @stanislavkostarnov2157 Před 3 lety +12

      @@Dont_Tread_on_Me448 to be honest, no one quite knows, all data was basically destroyed (as it would be if you are the USSR) whilst certainly at least a few thousand did survive, the original, it is rumored that the death toll was also in the thousands rather then hundreds... the families were and I think still are banned from discussing the details of the event since its been named a strategic secret by the high court.
      This was still in the more strict days... most of the injured were taken to secure disabled-asylum hospitals, similar to those for the workers injured on military experiments... all registration and birth certificates were shredded (for many before they were involved/the town was a semi-closed city)
      most of what we know is from fishermen who came to sell fish in the market (not from actual town residents or reports)

  • @critterjon4061
    @critterjon4061 Před 3 lety +59

    Ah yes, forbidden swimming hole

  • @Thaidory
    @Thaidory Před 2 lety +28

    The ecosystem of that lake and it's surroundings must be quite fascinating.

  • @Newt.--.Jaeden
    @Newt.--.Jaeden Před 3 lety +104

    Everytime I see something Soviet in the title I click.

  • @currentbatches6205
    @currentbatches6205 Před 2 lety +14

    2:53 - Actually, the design of the first Soviet nuke was the work of those at Los Alamos, with pretty thoroughly complete blueprints delivered to Stalin .by Klaus Fuchs.
    18:52 - Bing maps (aerial view) has the lake partially waterfilled.

  • @vermas4654
    @vermas4654 Před 3 lety +19

    "sadist in chief" I couldnt have come up with a better name for Beria

  • @harrymorris2361
    @harrymorris2361 Před 3 lety +119

    “Karachay had spent decades accumulating a level of toxicity unparalleled in history”
    Someone clearly hasn’t played League of Legends

    • @d3eztrickz
      @d3eztrickz Před 3 lety +4

      Don't give him any more channel ideas! 😂

    • @EnDTh3S1L3NcE
      @EnDTh3S1L3NcE Před 3 lety +1

      As a former LOL player, too true

    • @prasunkumar117
      @prasunkumar117 Před 3 lety +2

      Flaskbacks to xbox live chat from 2008-2013

    • @SRW_
      @SRW_ Před 2 lety

      Lets play raid shadow legends

  • @nuancedhistory9729
    @nuancedhistory9729 Před 3 lety +30

    Even today Mayak still has serious issues with safety and radiation releases. Both the 2017 and the 2020 detection in France and Sweden were due to reprocessing spent nuclear fuel at the Mayak site to create specialized isotopes for scientific projects (which, ironically, was for a project at the facility that detected the radiation emissions from the site in the case of the 2017 incident).
    As a proponent of Nuclear energy, and someone generally approving of RosAtom's ability to quickly construct nuclear reactors in the fight against climate change, Mayak is a really fucked up place and we need to be harder on Russia about getting their standards for reprocessing, waste disposal, and other important elements of the nuclear life cycle up to western standards.

    • @Jake_Hamlin
      @Jake_Hamlin Před 3 lety +3

      Western standards like Runit Island?
      Because the handling/cleanup of that place is abit of a joke..

    • @nuancedhistory9729
      @nuancedhistory9729 Před 3 lety +7

      @@Jake_Hamlin The West has its own issues with the legacy of weapons production. Nobody is denying that. But my point is that active, operating facilities in the west for reprocessing nuclear fuel (particularly France's facilities at La Hague and Marcoule) have a FAR better track record than Mayak, and that western standards for the nuclear energy industry today are incredibly high, which Russia has yet to meet in many respects.
      Of course there are places like Mayak in the west, Sellafield is still a disaster. So is Hanford or Savannah River Site. But those facilities are legacy places, and what a place like Sellafield does today is not the same as how it operated 70 years ago. Hanford and others have been permanently shuttered.

    • @Jake_Hamlin
      @Jake_Hamlin Před 3 lety

      @@nuancedhistory9729 I'm from New Zealand so my opinion on Nuclear material is obviously bias

    • @nuancedhistory9729
      @nuancedhistory9729 Před 3 lety +6

      @@Jake_Hamlin I understand that. I'm also strongly against pollution and nuclear weapons and the legacy they've left.
      However, I am strongly for it being used as a clean, peaceful energy source alongside solar and wind and other renewables.

    • @matthewburns9409
      @matthewburns9409 Před rokem

      @@Jake_Hamlin the thing is Russia is a powderkeg of dilapidation. Take a look around on Google Streets and all you see is a heavily decaying infrastructure. I do wonder how Russias nuke infrastructure is being maintained because everything else is rusting lol. Seems all the money in Russia just goes straight to the inner circle of the kremlin and everyone else has standards of living largely far below an average western citizen.

  • @demetrisswest
    @demetrisswest Před 9 měsíci +5

    All my family from mother's side was exposed to that radioactive cloud in 1957. My grangran, granny, aunts, uncle all passed away because of intestinal cancer. There are no warning signs around the area, and people still live there, with life expectancy of 45 years.

  • @artvandelay6306
    @artvandelay6306 Před 3 lety +18

    Accidents, screw-ups, and poor decisions? By the Soviets? I'm shocked; shocked, I tell ya!

  • @valacarno
    @valacarno Před 3 lety +17

    I wonder how many more there are places like Karachay. I remember when SU collapsed people were speculating there are hundreds of secret cities in Urals and behind them. I bet many of them are still secret until this very day, keeping their horrible secrets

    • @thesteelrodent1796
      @thesteelrodent1796 Před 11 měsíci +3

      Well, they're visible on satellite footage, but there is supposedly many cities and facilities still where it remains a secret what they were built for, since the only people who knew about them are long dead and records buried in the KGB archives, or destroyed

  • @chloefletcher9612
    @chloefletcher9612 Před 2 lety +7

    This story is just mind blowing - every time you think that's it, it gets worse.

  • @MrSleazey
    @MrSleazey Před 10 měsíci +3

    Many years ago, I read an article that said the Soviets quit dumping nuclear waste into the Techa River, because they had learned that the the West had detected radioactivity in the Arctic Ocean. Analysis of the radio-isotopes in the waters of the Arctic were revealing details of what kind of nuclear research was going on in Russia.
    So they then switched from dumping radioactive waste into the Techa River, and switched purposely to the land bound Lake Karachay.

    • @skippayless4357
      @skippayless4357 Před 10 měsíci

      They were dumping so much nuclear waste that another country could detect it in the ocean..? That must have been an enormous amount of waste 🤢

  • @publicserviceannouncements2103

    9:36 when you cover up a verbal slip with the sound of an explosion. 🤣 classic.

    • @BrianC1664
      @BrianC1664 Před 3 lety +1

      well, it worked on me as I missed it

  • @markb2881
    @markb2881 Před 3 lety +15

    I lived in WA state in the US for several years and heard different things about the Hanford nuclear site and the cleanup that's been going on there for decades. Idea for a future piece?

    • @comment8767
      @comment8767 Před 10 měsíci

      Yes. He could explain how tanks were built to contain radioactive waste products, and how the engineers who designed the site lived in Richland, which gets water from the same river, downstream.

  • @whatever8282828
    @whatever8282828 Před 3 lety +9

    It wasn't clear to me until the end that they didn't simply infill the lake bed, but entirely filled the lake. Wow.

  • @PyroNexus22
    @PyroNexus22 Před 3 lety +10

    Look up the story of Alyoshenka, the Kyshtym Dwarf, so often thought to be an alien or a gnome, but in reality was likely just an underdeveloped child, deformed from radiation.

  • @donaldkelly3983
    @donaldkelly3983 Před 3 lety +4

    There have been some episodes concerning very disturbing Soviet Era mishaps, but this story is a new level!

  • @spacecadet35
    @spacecadet35 Před 3 lety +14

    A much better ratio of Simon to data. He did get totally out of control there, but it is nice to see that they have pulled back and let the the data shine through and in this case Simon's delivery and personality aids in the information delivery, not hinders it. Good work. Keep it up.

  • @jasonwright1687
    @jasonwright1687 Před 3 lety +2

    That is a good way to phrase it at the end... Yeah... Topics such as this , tragedies and disasters and such, they are not so much "enjoyable".... more of interesting and/or informative. That's what i love about your videos (all your videos across all channels) ... you are very informative and you keep the content easily digestible. Keep it up. Also, i believe i left you some bonus info on the MOAB video on megaprojects. . . . about how long they have had it and all the science.

  • @marianpizeno8511
    @marianpizeno8511 Před 3 lety +10

    Does anyone else spend the first half of the day just listening to Simon???

  • @RGC-gn2nm
    @RGC-gn2nm Před 3 lety +55

    Soviet Russia. Holding all the beers.

  • @Primetiime32
    @Primetiime32 Před 3 lety +3

    Thank you for this video Simon. Time for me to start researching

  • @EK14MeV
    @EK14MeV Před 2 lety +1

    This is among your best videos. Well done.

  • @nahnopenopenope3406
    @nahnopenopenope3406 Před 3 lety +16

    I don’t know if I’m just morbid or genuinely want the kind of knowledge that these videos give me... but either way, thanks for the work you put into your content!

  • @ensignmjs7058
    @ensignmjs7058 Před 2 lety +3

    "And we're not giving away any prizes for guessing the name of that lake."
    I love his expressions during that sentence. 7:46.

  • @evegreenification
    @evegreenification Před 2 lety +4

    "This was something of a massive problem" well said.

  • @dallasl3688
    @dallasl3688 Před 3 lety +1

    Fantastic video, Simon. Horrifying, but fantastic.

  • @drakewaffles2952
    @drakewaffles2952 Před 2 lety

    This is honestly the best documentary channel I have seen!!

  • @chrisresnikoff1741
    @chrisresnikoff1741 Před 3 lety +15

    "A cloud of broken communist dreams" is my new favorite phrase

  • @johncassels3475
    @johncassels3475 Před 3 lety +3

    One of your better videos. Thanks.

  • @jonathangiddings4907
    @jonathangiddings4907 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Brilliant video. Well done!

  • @SkullKing11841
    @SkullKing11841 Před 3 lety +10

    You should do more on USSR environmental disasters. There is at least a few more of them.

  • @NocturnalToothbrush
    @NocturnalToothbrush Před 3 lety +73

    This is literally the universe of the Fallout games in reality.

    • @keith_5584
      @keith_5584 Před 3 lety +4

      I mean, didn't they trade a bunch of arms for Pepsi too? Enter NukaCola.

    • @bstrdbss
      @bstrdbss Před 3 lety

      Not really.....

    • @keith_5584
      @keith_5584 Před 3 lety +2

      @Interesting Fives Still sounds like a Bethesda game, I bet Russia has more realistic physics objects. If you can show me a russian man flying around standing on an engine I might be swayed.

    • @benr.4238
      @benr.4238 Před 3 lety +2

      @Interesting Fives There are, but they are all variations of "
      cyka blyat"

    • @NocturnalToothbrush
      @NocturnalToothbrush Před 3 lety +1

      @Interesting Fives LOL So true.

  • @OU8Aspark
    @OU8Aspark Před 2 lety +10

    Thank you for this video. Disasters like this should be known to everyone. I wish we could eliminate the radiation somehow.

    • @AB-80X
      @AB-80X Před rokem +2

      Or maybe just eliminate Russia and start over. The entire place and everything about it is a disaster.

    • @UpperDarbyDetailing
      @UpperDarbyDetailing Před 5 měsíci

      Radiation is a basic part of the universe. Without fusion we wouldn’t exist.

  • @nicholasmacnaughtan4492
    @nicholasmacnaughtan4492 Před 3 lety +1

    Would love a 'Space Themed Channel'. Your content is amazing. Love all your videos. Keeps me going through my long night shifts. 🤩

  • @clarkkent6043
    @clarkkent6043 Před 3 lety

    I find most of your videos educational!!! Keep up the great content

  • @jayayerson8819
    @jayayerson8819 Před 3 lety +20

    "The Nuclear Shield", and, "The Saviours of Humanity".
    *sarcasms in Russian*

  • @randallpetroelje3913
    @randallpetroelje3913 Před 3 lety +9

    I feel so bad for the poor people that have to deal with that crap. Thanks for your show!

  • @cillianwebster4886
    @cillianwebster4886 Před 3 lety +1

    Awesome vid Simon & Co, will you guys be doing a vid on Stalingrad (Volgorgrad) in the near future?

  • @GameCastingMedia
    @GameCastingMedia Před 3 lety +2

    Simon your beard is getting more brilliant every upload either that or I’ve been watching old graphics videos for way too long

  • @TonySpike
    @TonySpike Před 3 lety +4

    Simon - "the USSR's other nuclear disaster"
    Me - remembers the 3 other geographics videos i have watched on the USSR's nuclear disasters

  • @enqrbit
    @enqrbit Před 3 lety +21

    Wendover Productions: Planes
    Polymatter: China
    Half as Interesting: Bricks
    Geographics: USSR
    Biographics: Spies and serial killers
    Economics Explained: Norway
    Bald and Bankrupt: Soviet
    Sidenote: Royals
    Mr.Beast: 1 million dollars

  • @NONYABUSINESSBOZO
    @NONYABUSINESSBOZO Před rokem +1

    This video is extremely informative. I like how it summons up not only the basics of lake karachay but also narrows down a vast majority of things from that point in time that determined the history behind the toxicity of lake karachay. This is fascinating🙃🙃🙃

  • @1hungrygrizzly
    @1hungrygrizzly Před 3 lety

    So glad you finally covered City 40

  • @joeyr7294
    @joeyr7294 Před 3 lety +145

    "Toxic Legacy." Should be what my ex girlfriend's diary was titled!

  • @katherinegilks3880
    @katherinegilks3880 Před 3 lety +3

    Very interesting. Are there plans to make a video about Lake Baikal?

  • @declanoleary1
    @declanoleary1 Před 2 lety

    As ever enlightening, backroom team, keep up the great work and keep'em coming,

  • @whocareswellushould135
    @whocareswellushould135 Před 3 lety +1

    Very interesting and very new to me. Ty !

  • @Volvith
    @Volvith Před 3 lety +4

    The age of secrecy hasn't ended.
    Working in a building supply store, i've met a couple Russian workers who moved out to here.
    You wouldn't believe the stories they have told, and not the kind of stories that state a city some 200 kilometers away was cleaned of opposition to the government.
    No, this is 'They took my father and aunt and we never saw them again.' type stuff. Not to mention the many humanitarian atrocities that are still ongoing to this day.
    Each and every one of them has stories that make it clear that they aren't outliers, or suffered from a rare fate. Their stories cemented the fact that the type of actions portrayed in this video are still very much happening to this day, if not worse.
    _"Call a pig a cow, and it's still a pig. Paint it white and black, and it's still a pig. Call it Putin, and it's still. a. pig."_

  • @TheLandBeyond_Creations
    @TheLandBeyond_Creations Před 3 lety +6

    Don’t drink the spicy water guys

  • @straswa
    @straswa Před 2 lety

    Fascinating vid, nice work.

  • @soniacelis672
    @soniacelis672 Před 3 lety

    Very interesting. Thanks for the information.

  • @TheEvilCommenter
    @TheEvilCommenter Před 3 lety +3

    Good video 👍

  • @onyxdragon1179
    @onyxdragon1179 Před 3 lety +7

    Simon: "On August the Sixth..."
    Me: *On August the sick*

  • @Fkidd702
    @Fkidd702 Před 3 lety +1

    You should make a podcast! I would love to listen to this when I’m at work or in the car ! And since there really isn’t much to “see”

  • @Mirthandirxiii
    @Mirthandirxiii Před 2 lety

    Very engaging. Well done.

  • @thetreblerebel
    @thetreblerebel Před 3 lety +3

    It was the mindset of this whole generation that dumping and using rivers and lakes to rid toxic waste was accepted. Leaving the mess and toxicity for future generations to come

  • @Anaverageguy41
    @Anaverageguy41 Před 3 lety +29

    Deadly and radioactive
    "Ways you can you describe the USSR but not your girlfriend"

  • @KelpieMindTricks
    @KelpieMindTricks Před 2 lety

    Great content. Thank you.

  • @Flymochairman1
    @Flymochairman1 Před rokem +1

    It's made clearer the reasons behind the recent troubles in the region, by the country with so many other toxic sores in itself. Interesting and equally terrifying and poignient. Cheers!

  • @jacob4920
    @jacob4920 Před 2 lety +4

    For all of the environmental mistakes that America gets hamfistedly beaten up over, the Soviet disasters make all of America's look like a spilled cup of beer, in comparison.
    Yet I don't hear Russia receiving nearly the same level of international condemnation.

  • @vinnyvalenti6189
    @vinnyvalenti6189 Před 3 lety +10

    The 69' fire at Rocky Flats in Colorado. The glove boxes in buildings 779, 776 and 771 melted to the ground! A cloud of plutonium floated over Denver!

    • @rudra62
      @rudra62 Před 2 lety

      Now there's an elementary school on a cut-out area of Rocky Flats.

    • @jackfanning7952
      @jackfanning7952 Před 2 lety

      @@rudra62 Yeah and they paved the roads and playgrounds of Lakota Indian land with radioactive tailings from uranium mines. When kids get out of the elementary school in Simi Valley they get together for an after school chemo party at the local cancer clinic because of the 2018 Woolsey Fire at the 19568 Santa Susana meltdown site. As a participation prize each kid gets one bead for every chemo treatment. You ought to take a look at those long necklaces those kids have. Little Gracie Bumstead is particularly blessed to have 2 nice, long necklaces from her two bouts with leukemia.

    • @rudra62
      @rudra62 Před 2 lety

      @@jackfanning7952 Yep. There is no thought put into what happens with the radioactive tailings of mines, nor to what happens with still-radioactive spent fuel. Possibly the saddest part of some of the cancer radiation therapy is what happens to the radioactive substances in that medical equipment once it is taken out of service. Much of it is recycled! Not into radiation equipment, but into consumer products, and stored near residential areas. This was cracked-down on in the US, so it's sent to Mexico and overseas to be recycled (and brought back).
      The US has shot plenty of bullets and mortars made from "depleted uranium" in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past 20 years. Those shells and bullets are still radioactive, with a half life of about 4.5 billion years for the U-238.

  • @barrydysert2974
    @barrydysert2974 Před 3 lety +1

    Utterly fascinating! 🖖

  • @theaultones5790
    @theaultones5790 Před 3 lety

    Legend, Happy Blazing Simon 🙏

  • @normac.1953
    @normac.1953 Před 3 lety +6

    Merry Christmas 🎅 ! Everyone stay safe!

  • @tonybeaumont8289
    @tonybeaumont8289 Před 3 lety +50

    Couldn't stop looking at that shaving cut on Simon's forehead lol

    • @MisterAndrewBuckley
      @MisterAndrewBuckley Před 3 lety +10

      Danny's getting a bit frisky

    • @tonybeaumont8289
      @tonybeaumont8289 Před 3 lety +10

      @@MisterAndrewBuckley... Allegedly

    • @bigv6724
      @bigv6724 Před 3 lety +7

      Awe he's finally getting his unicorn horn! Horn? Unispike? The Simon?

    • @ABrit-bt6ce
      @ABrit-bt6ce Před 3 lety +5

      Was he Dollar Shave Club or Harrys? Was being the important bit here.

    • @wesleymcglone6937
      @wesleymcglone6937 Před 3 lety +3

      Now I can't. Cheers.

  • @kennethvenezia4400
    @kennethvenezia4400 Před 9 měsíci +2

    I watch your channel from time to time. I find it well researched and professionally presented. As a result, it never fails to leave me depressed upon its conclusion. I would like to thank you for your contribution in satisfying my curiosity and hunger for information. Did I mention, I HAVE A CAT?🙀

  • @stevebrown8163
    @stevebrown8163 Před 3 lety +1

    Thank you.

  • @gus7850
    @gus7850 Před 3 lety +3

    the shit the soviets did is truly terrifying, like 10x scarier than something from a horror movie

  • @thejudgmentalcat
    @thejudgmentalcat Před 3 lety +32

    There will come a time when every subject Simon covers has a sister subject he's already covered on another channel. SimonTube! ❤❤❤

    • @amicloud_yt
      @amicloud_yt Před 3 lety +2

      @Sigurður H Sigurðsson Business Blaze videos are often really long. But... they're not exactly the typical Simon format.

    • @nealhoffman7518
      @nealhoffman7518 Před 3 lety +2

      In 5 years universities will offer Whistler 101, 102, 201, and 202. In 20 it will be a major

    • @BackYardScience2000
      @BackYardScience2000 Před 3 lety +4

      In 30 years those universities will have halls named after him and he will be recognized as one of the greatest people of the first half of the 21st century.

    • @DerptyDerptyDUM
      @DerptyDerptyDUM Před 3 lety

      Simonception.

    • @DerptyDerptyDUM
      @DerptyDerptyDUM Před 3 lety +1

      @@amicloud_yt Allegedly.

  • @davedoes1298
    @davedoes1298 Před 3 lety +2

    Speaking of nuclear disasters, I would highly reccomend looking into and making a video of the history of rocky flats.

  • @dougalexander7204
    @dougalexander7204 Před 2 lety

    The lid blew off in the direction of Pluto. Oh, I see hat you did there. Dig ya, Simon.