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- The Soviet Union developed nuclear weapons to rival the U.S after WWII
- A hidden Mayak Plant was built by the USSR to produce plutonium near Chelyabinsk
- Production was rushed and safety was least of concerns
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- The Mayak plutonium reactors were turned on for the production for nuclear weapons
- The reactors were made out of metal-and-graphite to produce plutonium
- However the liquid waste (cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium dust) was dumped into rivers and lakes contaminating them
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- The Mayak plant took used uranium fuel from its reactors and reprocessed it to extract plutonium for bombs.
- This left behind highly radioactive liquid waste (nitrate-acetate mixtures).
- The cooling waste pipes began to generate heat and caused them to rust, which together creates risk for explosion of the pipes because of pressure build up
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- The cooling system failed and the 80 ton radioactive waste tank exploded because of the heat and pressure
- 20 million curies of radiation were released
- 200 square miles were contaminated and around 270,000 people in nearby villages were exposed
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- Because the Mayak plant was a part of the Soviet Union's top secret nuclear weapons program the government kept the disaster and explosion a secret from the public
- Radiation spread over 20,000 square kilometers in the Ural Mountains. -The Soviet government kept the incident secret and blamed industrial issues, as a cover up
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- Soviet officials did not admit to the explosion having deadly radiation released to the public
- Villagers and workers began getting sick plus burns, nausea, and hair loss
- Around 10,000 people were evacuated with no medical care or explanation
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- East Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT) was discovered by scientists
- The EURT is 300km long and 50km wide
- Rivers, soil, crops were all contaminated, making them still unsafe today
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- The government officially admitted to the explosion
- The most radioactive zones were closed off to the public, and even removed from maps
- The villages were cleaned up and destroyed, and those workers got contaminated
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- Scientist Dr. Zhores Medvedev published a magazine which revealed the explosion to the West.
- Western nuclear experts from Sweden, U.K, and the U.S studied radiation data and satellite images, confirming that the major nuclear accident had occurred.
- The disaster was officially named the as the Kyshtym Disaster
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- Nobody knew how bad the radiation from the explosion really was until after the Soviet Union collapsed and government files were released.
- These files included Medical data, cancer rates, and birth defects rates in people living near the Mayak plant and along the Techa River.
- The disaster was rated a Level 6 under the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, (just below Chernobyl which was at level 7 for comparison)