Yeah but it wasnt secret, hotels litterally had nuclear parties where they looked at nuclear mushrooms from their roofs, wind was supposed to carry radiation away, but the prediction were wrong once
@@dougsteel7414 actually it does. The US used mostly uranium for bombs. Almost all the fission products decay within weeks. The USSR used mostly plutonium, so it's products can take much longer to decay. I am not saying that any of this is OK for people, but one is certainly worse. The USSR deliberately chose a place that has millions of inhabitants. We did not. And there is no such thing as a set boundry for fallout.
@@seanmccarty1176 mostly uranium would have made the tests meaningless as clearly they needed inductive evidence of plutonium/uranium thermal triggers, many of the products decay in weeks, and isotopes that decay quickly as simple maths will tell you are the most energetic and dangerous. Other than inhalation and chronic contact, in which case all uranium isotopes are sufficiently toxic to cause cell damage, and severe illness
Odds are, what with the military equipment, they were putting them into some of those tanks they sent over to test how well the tanks protected those inside from explosions (as well as likely test buildings and other such things).
No need for allegedly whenever discussing Soviet subjects. If they have any issues with the way you are discussing it, the method used to make you aware of it won't be using the courts and lawyers.
Just looking around on G Maps. The scale of this area is really amazing. Scrolling around the area south west of Kurchatov is just one crater after another.
I was listening to some samples on Audible the other day and I had to laugh as there was Simon with his amazing reading voice… he is everywhere 😂 not complaining mind u 😃
@@akizetaget buried in the tshirt AND have it chiseled into your headstone below the date line. (Maybe even have it filled with “glow in the dark” (phosphorescent) substance too for maximum effect…
I visited Kiritimati Island in 2003. It was bombed by the UK and USA. It was an amazing experience. Sort of creepy too. The bunkers were still there. Other less obvious artefacts also remained.
I got to stand on the edge of the Sedan crater of America's Plowshare bomb test in the Nevada Test Site. It's amazing how massive that hole is, and that it was made just within a minute. I wish I could've brought a geiger counter to see what radiation was left, but naturally the government doesn't want tourists to do that.
I honestly LOVE how each channel tackles the same subject from a different angle. I learn something new each time Simon goes over a topic on different channels. This is the perfect way to learn the details about a subject.
@@HO-bndk If you were to read my comment again, you would understand that "learning the same subject from different angles" is what I meant. But, honestly, Simon's team are not amateurs, so these videos are an amazing way to get people started on a subject when they don't have access to other sources or time to read longer books. If you would like to suggest your own way of learning, I'm open to that, but not everyone will learn the same way you do.
@@HO-bndkSimon's a professional, because he makes money.. Even with that said amateurs can be extremely knowledgable and experienced, you know the Olympics are amateur competitions right? Plus theres countless great informative videos and documentaries on YT.
Wait, they sealed the radioactive tunnels at great expense... And now they are starting to mine in the area where over 450 nuclear tests had taken place? What could possibly go wrong!?
Got to know someone who lived in Kazakhstan during the time the site was active. By his accout he lived close enough that he could feel the ground shaking when they did tests. I can't even imagine that. Think about having your dishes rattle and thinking "Oh, they blew another one". He was also very matter-of-fact with his telling, like it was just something normal they had to deal with. He could feel fucking nukes explode, yet he told it like a train was passing by his house. Just some mundane experience. And it's not like they didn't know what they were doing, though not officially. It's not like the newspapers could write about it or some official would set up at the market and make an anouncement or something.
The town of Kurchatov was named after physicist Ivan Kurchatov. The soviets also claimed to have synthesised the 104th element in the Periodic Table, which they named Kurchatovium, in 1966. It is now the element Rutherfordium.
Believe it or not, this wasn’t the worst thing the Soviets did to Kazakhstan. Check out the Virgin Lands project and it’s aftermath to the Kazakhs after it was ended.
The list is extensive. Aral sea, bioweapon testing, culling of leadership in 30s, destruction of traditional culture, as well as "tselina" and of course nuke tests
The Polygon is just a general term russians used for "practice site". Ask any russian solider, they practiced on "the polygon" but not THAT polygon. The world polygon in english isn't polygon in russian, and don't mean the same thing.
It's the same case in Polish ... we got hundreds of polygons in Poland during Cold War ... probably thousands in USSR. So I'm giggling every time he uses it as The Polygon :).
@@angryatheist I'm sure that they've tried their best to provide the best scientific information about nuclear energy in The Simpsons. But yes, there are some slight inaccuracies still. But I'll give them a pass.
My dad was working for the USAF at the Nevada test site in the early 50s. He would get the soil/air samples after the detonation and see what atomic elements were in them. Nothing like intense heat and pressure to create a new element for the periodic table.
this is becoming my favorite channel that simon hosts. i already love the darker episodes of biographics/geographics, so an entire channel devoted to dark history is perfect.
Animal and humans were used as test subjects at Marshal Islands and in Australia as well. In fact the Australian fall out reached as far as Sydney and testing for some compounds is actually illegal in Australia until today. There's a documentary about it, which was refused screening in Australia about 15 years ago. We are pawns in hands of narcissistic, self obsessed old men.
So glad that you made this channel! It would be amazing to see a video dedicated to Vieques, a tiny island belonging to Puerto Rico. The people had to deal with America basically taking over their home and using the island to test nuclear weapons! I went there about 15 years ago and I will never forget that experience and hearing about their struggles…never learned that in history class!!!!
Maybe attend school in said country instead of being suprised that countries try to hide dark pages...... Edit: School would never end if schools included everything that "wasnt taught in school"
Bombing around 30 countries with depleted uranium had infinitely larger and horrific death count. Entire male population of small town near Sarajevo died of cancer from depleted uranium dropped by (you know who does it) After bombing all factories, electrical grid and bridges in Serbia, (anything hardened was targeted with uranium jacketed bombs) cancer rates (especially children cancer) went up TEN FOLD. But Simon will not cover that, he pushes another narative 😉
One thing we know about half a century of nuclear tests and nuclear mistakes: Not even repeatedly nuking a piece of land over and over will cause giant monster cockroaches to evolve spontaneously.
Or just learn the metric system like the rest of the world (and any professional in STEM fields). Geez, like get with the program? 🙄 Not only is it easier as it’s all multiples of 10 with obvious zero points, it’s more precise, SMFH.
@@shinkikomori7386 because this isn’t about America. Whataboutism is actually cancer. We ALL get it, everyone and their mom hates America. That’s not new or productive. Also communism is absolutely worse than America. To say otherwise is to spit on the graves of millions of its victims. Not to say America is perfect but there’s a reason anyone who immigrates from communism countries to America both love America and HATE communism.
Megaprojects - Soviet Union and Nukes Sideprojects - Soviet Union and Nukes Into The Shadows - Soviet Union and Nukes . . . Behold...staple of Simon's channels! And I love it!
Those mystery radiation burns would have been a neutron bomb test. The point of which is to bathe the ground in heavy radiation killing people not through a pressure wave but through catastrophic radiation exposure.
"No place on earth has been nuked more often." The Nevada Test Site and its 928 nuclear tests (828 underground) with a total of 1021 nuclear explosions (921 underground) would like to have a word with you.
The thing is that there was no people exposed to radiation in comparison to Kazakhstan were 1.5 million people there were exposed to radiation and were not informed of bombs being tested
Lol, settle petals. Nothing gets killed in a nuclear blast. Including animals, at worst they get slightly mutated, in general, it is quite theraputical, for them. To much fake information from, fictional t.v. shows. If you don't believe me, I strongly suggest you go stand in a nuclear blast radius. And feel the goodness it will bring you.
The US put sheep and rabbits and other animals on the ships at Bikini Lagoon for the first two nuclear tests after World War 2. They used rabbits, pigs, sheep, and cattle in nuclear tests in Nevada among other places. Watch "The Atomic Bomb Movie" by Peter Kuran... OL J R :)
If you haven't already can you please cover the British test site in Australia. It is very interesting and so important to get the story of how our first nations peoples suffered from the testing.
"Poligon" or "polygon" is just a general russian term for a designated restricted test site/proving ground/firing range/dump site etc. It sounds more villainy than it is.
Sometimes also "event site", as I found out. I had no idea what my Russian friends always meant when talking about "being in/on the polygon", when travelling together. And no, we did not tour old nuclear test sites....
I know in Spanish for example the word Polígono Industrial, the poligono noun just denotes an area that is designated for manufacturing almost anything made in a Polígono Industrial. In English we'd put the adjective Industrial in front of the English word denoting any area designated specifically for industrial purposes. I'm guessing there's some connection with academic town planning and zoning, but What's really interesting, from a linguistic point of view, is how we're constantly changing usage, as street languages evolve in all languages. It's staggering that it's morphed into being part of a band of travellers. See DRSNova's comment on Russian usage. A very homely and warm usage compared to an area dedicated to efficient destruction over vast areas of ground.
@@michaelfoye1135 According to a worker at the NTS in the documentary "Atomic Journeys" there were 928 tests conducted there but I do know that there were tests involving more than one explosion so what is why I said detonations rather than tests. Just sharing, not feeling defensive.
1. More test were carried out, BY FAR, in Nevada (1021 tests) 2. Semipalantinsk test site is 150km from the neareat towns in siberia., where as, the Nevada test site is only 105km. So the USSR is considerably more remote. 3. The only reason the USSR needed to spend money on develiping its nuclear capacity was DIRECTLY BECAUSE OF THE US and its extreme antisoviet, anticommunist position (a position which killed tens of millions of people around the globe in a matter of decades and destroyed many nations) 4. The USSR never intentionally nuked innocent civilian targets. Twice. The US did, and the US even speculated how many would die
5:00 One of my dad's first adult jobs was prepping animals for radiation exposure tests. He worked on the SPR II, which was essentially a machine that moved pieces of fissile material close to each other to create a supercritical burst of neutrons, which would be used to irradiate various targets. So we're not innocent of killing animals for nuclear test purposes either. From what we know of Soviet test practices, they were less concerned with the aftereffects, but we weren't that much better.
@CRAM MARC Except, unfortunately, we DID irradiate humans for test purposes. The Castle Bravo nuclear test came out at roughly 15 megatons, and while the US scientists who built it had been expecting something big, they sure as fuck weren't expecting THAT ("Jesus, Larry, did you remember to carry the three?"). Some of the inhabited islands nearby were evacuated prior to the tests, but others... weren't. The people of the Marshall Islands got some pretty fucked-up looking kids out of the deal, and while the US did eventually pay them compensation, I imagine they'd probably have traded that in for, you know, the correct number of eyes. Castle Bravo is remembered more as an environmental disaster than a successful weapon development, and is even said to be the inspiration for the first Godzilla movie. A notable exception to this overwhelming opinion was Nikita Kruschev, who immediately told his scientists to develop a 100 megaton bomb: they eventually managed to argue him down to a meagre 50 megaton yield, as no pilot in the Soviet Union would be willing to drop a bomb that was guaranteed to destroy the plane that carried it, and they also didn't want to unleash Cthulu. The result of this was the famous Russian Tsar Bomba test, which topped out at between 50 and 61 megatons, and marked the logical conclusion of that point in history where foreign policy was basically the equivalent of winning a board game by coming up with ever-more destructive ways of flipping the table and then showing it to the other guy. On the plus side, the US irradiated people accidentally through negligence rather than on purpose, so there's still a little bit of high ground to stand on. I wouldn't, though - it's pretty radioactive.
Scientists sometimes lose sight of humanity and empathy, and this gets replaced with doing whatever is necessary to prove one's hypothesis, be it for profit or prestige. Science isn't about what's cruel or what isn't; it studies reality and nature isn't forgiving. How else are they supposed to make innovative discoveries that can benefit billions of lives with some small sacrifices? Would you rather the research be done on humanity? Scientists tried that, and times changed so they switched to more animal models, and now the goal is to limit animal research models with the intent of artificial replacements. Overt cruelty in the form of extended torture without total pain relief should never be allowed. However, certain animal models are necessary and I'm sure you agree that products must be safety tested and you wouldn't think it's OK to test on humans, right? I say, limit unnecessary suffering, distress, injury, or death. However, we don't have non-animal replacements for every experiment yet, but that should some day come to fruition.
I'm kinda curious about the effects from US tests now. Some explosions were visible from Las Vegas. But I've only heard of the after effects from uranium mining among the Navajo.
I grew up downwind from the Nevada Test Site. As a fourth-grade child, I clearly remember the startling and ugly thought that human beings are basically savage, stupid animals that have very little wisdom or appreciation for the beauty of being alive. This also began my deep distrust of all forms of authority. If government had no concerns about showering me with poison, what else was I not being told?
1 that most of the ground water is poisoned with teflon ,2 theyve done experiments that make this look like child play 3,those in charge could give a flying rats tail about any of us .
Jesus, at least Castle Bravo was partly an honest mistake with more fuel undergoing fusion than expected. But to just plant the damn site near a town... And big ol shock that there was so much radiation. Ground bursts are really filthy in terms of radiation, with fission driven ground detonations being the absolute worst. Air bursts aren't great for your health, especially if it is a fission device, but its waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cleaner. And fusion airbursts, in terms of nukes, are like a clear stream of fresh water compared to fission ground bursts raw sewage swamps when considering how dirty a bomb was.
Once, working for a large industrial firm with an aerospace group, I was sent to the corporate training center for an elite class. Prior to the class, we were given flash cards. A few of them had just latitude an longotude. When I looked these up, they were all in Khaghistan. This was, course, during the cold war.
I'm the five-eyed mutant from Semipalatinsk, the gnarliest critter downwind from Minsk! No longer human, I'm not a man, I'm the five-eyed mutant from Kazakhistan!
Whistleboy might not be the only person with a million different channels, but he is the only person where all million channels are totally worth watching. Allegedly.
except for some of the imagery being quite misleading.. the bandaged hand all burned up is from a criticality event with the "demon core" and the injuries from the test site were not that concentrated or severe.. thats damage from someone essentially holding nuclear fission in their hands
My friend served on this training ground for 2 years. he sat in a nuclear shelter for half a year and felt explosions inside. the lamps jumped and the walls shook. this is how he describes his life during the service. until now, he has health problems due to being in the contaminated zone for a long time
@@Quicksilver1936 No, No, No, he’s right. They offer great parallels in the sense that any bad thing that the US did, I can give an example of the Soviets doing the same thing but 100 to 1000 times worse. For example, upset that the US displaced the residents of Bikini Atoll, well those 160 people aren’t jack compared to the 1.5 million people that the Soviets tested on. Upset that the US accidentally killed civilians during the Vietnam War, well at least they weren’t the Chechens who were killed indiscriminately by Russians during the First and Second Russo-Chechen War, as in it was literally the Russian policy to kill civilians.
@@Quicksilver1936 He's absolutely serious. You see it was standard USSR practice to say "But in the USA - " etc to any of their crimes. That propagandist whataboutery seeped into the West so much that Westerners will do it long after the USSR's death, and even when the USA isn't relevant to the discussion.
During the time of the USSR, there was another closed city called Kurchatov near Kursk. Kurchatov was the workers city for Kursk Nuclear Power Station / Курская АЭС
So im a published, degreed author of central asian history and id like to add two things. Semey, the town closest to the bombings in 1919 was the center of a royalist kazakh independence movement and was to be the capital of an independent Kazakhstan. This city supported the whites against the red army in the civil war. This is not something Beria forgot when choosing where to put the testing site. Secondly, there was fairly widespread antagonism against the test site starting in the 1960s. Various whistleblowers, activists and novelists were arrested, but the environmental protestors repeated showed up in any antisoviet demonstration, including the 1990 Almaty riots, which mobilized 60,000 people and most likely resulted in Nazarbayev becoming first president of Kazakhstan
Thanks for that information. It is something new in all of the discussions of the site. That explains a lot. Beria was famous for saying show me the man and I will show you the crime. When he said the test area was unpopulated, he meant it would be unpopulated after the test activity. Things would always be made to be true. It was unpopulated except for the test subjects.
@@TheUnamedPerson Look up the Hanford site in Washington. It's where weapons grade plutonium was first produced in the Manhattan project. It's also the most radiologically contaminated site in the US.
The Soviets were our allies up until the day we said we weren't going to share nuclear tech with them. The scientists at Los Alamos knew that this would cause a cold war and begged the military not to do it. Anyone who actually cares about these details would be well served to read 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb' by Richard Rhodes.
The Soviet spy program helped a lot. Communist ideas and enthusiasm were in U.S. higher education by 1920. This provided a corps of potential traitors, and dedicated Soviet handlers operated out of embassies.
@@thepcg4094 For the Soviet Nuke program. Japan had figured it out on their own, but were too late as the U.S. beat them to achieving functional offensive weapons.
The Chinese Communist Party is using the same tactics here in the United States now. They have set up confucius intitutes to spread their lies. Kick them out now.
So 426 nuke tests , "nowhere on earth has been nuked more." The Nevada Test site was home to 928 nuke tests in a shorter period of time. People used to drive out into the Vegas desert to catch a glimpse of an above ground test. How is 426 greater that 928?
@@prestonlee9965 Why not mention that then? Also 'the polygon' was ~7000 square miles as opposed to Nevada's 3500 square miles. Meaning if you want to go by megatons/mile^2 the Soviets would have had to exploded 4 time the amount in megatons the Americans did to get that 'most nuked place in the world' crown. Which is doubtful.
The British did similar tests at Maralinga in Outback South Australia, conveniently ignoring the nomadic local Aboriginals. Mistakes happened, bombs didn't explode, fallout drifted across Australia, contaminating the nearest population centres of Adelaide and Melbourne. Naturally the residents weren't told, so any damage to DNA continues to this day.
Not likely as the Soviet union was especially shrouded in secrecy during the late 60s and early 70s when Lucas was writing Star wars, it more likely is based upon Nazi enforced labor.
I thought it was the islands Bikini, where the paysants got radioactivity, many died, and now are allowed to go to nearby islands to cut the grass of golf courses owned by US Companies. Now this is a legacy.
thats pretty misleading to use that imagery in such a circumstance... that guy held his hand inches from a burst of radiation.. no one injured from these tests looked anything like that
You said nowhere has been nuked as much? Yea, think of the Nevada test site of over 900 nukes tested.. like 45 miles away from my home.. makes me feel just fucking fantastic.
@@johan9388 Naa I think it was decommissioned like 10 years ago (I could be totally wrong on the amount of years) but the fact that it’s so close to where I live and how radiation works, it’s just scary af.. I have seen some crazy air planes with weird fuckin lights and have seen it go from like a regular speed and then just vanish at least twice since I’ve lived here (like 3 months) and it’s just creepy.. who knows though.
Hey Simon, please look into the history of allied prisoners of war in Germany WW2......especially the real story of "The Great Escape". I think it would be an inspiring tale of daring and courage that everyone can relate to.
I remember seeing a story on 60 Minutes in the early 90s about this and there was a museum with miscarried fetuses that were horribly deformed because of the testing
The nevada test site where the US tested nukes was 90 miles away from Vegas! The fall out raidus was three hundred miles. So not just the russians
Yeah but it wasnt secret, hotels litterally had nuclear parties where they looked at nuclear mushrooms from their roofs, wind was supposed to carry radiation away, but the prediction were wrong once
@@ltournay Carry it where? You realise it doesn't just disappear
@@dougsteel7414 actually it does. The US used mostly uranium for bombs. Almost all the fission products decay within weeks. The USSR used mostly plutonium, so it's products can take much longer to decay. I am not saying that any of this is OK for people, but one is certainly worse. The USSR deliberately chose a place that has millions of inhabitants. We did not. And there is no such thing as a set boundry for fallout.
@@seanmccarty1176 mostly uranium would have made the tests meaningless as clearly they needed inductive evidence of plutonium/uranium thermal triggers, many of the products decay in weeks, and isotopes that decay quickly as simple maths will tell you are the most energetic and dangerous. Other than inhalation and chronic contact, in which case all uranium isotopes are sufficiently toxic to cause cell damage, and severe illness
@@ltournay sounds bad ass which I could see that
"They nuked the animals didn't they.. allegedly."
I don't think the USSR can press legal action anymore.
Odds are, what with the military equipment, they were putting them into some of those tanks they sent over to test how well the tanks protected those inside from explosions (as well as likely test buildings and other such things).
Animals in weapons testing is pretty common.
ua-cam.com/video/7CTeeVO6tbk/v-deo.html
@@jc.1191 It's slightly funny the thought of wasting an entire atomic payload on a random animal is idiotic and stupid.
@@jc.1191 It what pretty fuckin funny
*Putin preparing to mail polonium to Steven* Nyet, comrad.
No need for allegedly whenever discussing Soviet subjects. If they have any issues with the way you are discussing it, the method used to make you aware of it won't be using the courts and lawyers.
Allegedly. Can I borrow an umbrella?
@@extragoogleaccount6061 they won't feel a thing.
Mmm...Polonium!
@@extragoogleaccount6061 holy shit i came to comment this exact joke. great minds think alike.
Except nobody cares or cared there really.
Just looking around on G Maps. The scale of this area is really amazing. Scrolling around the area south west of Kurchatov is just one crater after another.
Every single day I discover a new channel that Simon hosts
I was listening to some samples on Audible the other day and I had to laugh as there was Simon with his amazing reading voice… he is everywhere 😂 not complaining mind u 😃
Dix head there is pure spam.
He's like Michael from Vsauce - he's EVERYWHERE
If nuclear war does break out, it's estimated that at least 38% of Simon's channels will survive.
He could survive relying on the bullshit he is talking all day long. That scares any rads away.
Funny😂😂
@@1ytcommenter ?
@@1ytcommenter found the russian cry baby ;)
@@1ytcommenter huh?
When Simon says, "Revenge need not stop at death,"
it is, perhaps, his most British moment, ever witnessed on youtube.
As a Brit, I don't know whether to have that printed on a tee-shirt, or chiselled onto my gravestone.
@@akizeta It's not exactly an either or proposition.
@@akizetaget buried in the tshirt AND have it chiseled into your headstone below the date line. (Maybe even have it filled with “glow in the dark” (phosphorescent) substance too for maximum effect…
I visited Kiritimati Island in 2003. It was bombed by the UK and USA. It was an amazing experience. Sort of creepy too. The bunkers were still there. Other less obvious artefacts also remained.
I got to stand on the edge of the Sedan crater of America's Plowshare bomb test in the Nevada Test Site. It's amazing how massive that hole is, and that it was made just within a minute. I wish I could've brought a geiger counter to see what radiation was left, but naturally the government doesn't want tourists to do that.
I honestly LOVE how each channel tackles the same subject from a different angle. I learn something new each time Simon goes over a topic on different channels. This is the perfect way to learn the details about a subject.
Ah, no. Amateur vids on YT are not the correct way to learn about ANYTHING.
@@HO-bndk If you were to read my comment again, you would understand that "learning the same subject from different angles" is what I meant. But, honestly, Simon's team are not amateurs, so these videos are an amazing way to get people started on a subject when they don't have access to other sources or time to read longer books. If you would like to suggest your own way of learning, I'm open to that, but not everyone will learn the same way you do.
@@HO-bndk yet here you are 🙄🤦🏼♂️
@@HO-bndkSimon's a professional, because he makes money..
Even with that said amateurs can be extremely knowledgable and experienced, you know the Olympics are amateur competitions right?
Plus theres countless great informative videos and documentaries on YT.
Not to be confused with the game news site Polygon, which is also known for being a site hazardous to human health.
I laughed more than I should have
Underrated comment
Miss seeing BDG on there
I can tell you for a fact Kazakhstan’s rich potassium does not come from this area.
Savage
Nothing like another bright and cheerful video from Simon to put a spring into your step, and a song into your heart.
👍
😆
Wait, they sealed the radioactive tunnels at great expense...
And now they are starting to mine in the area where over 450 nuclear tests had taken place? What could possibly go wrong!?
Got to know someone who lived in Kazakhstan during the time the site was active. By his accout he lived close enough that he could feel the ground shaking when they did tests. I can't even imagine that. Think about having your dishes rattle and thinking "Oh, they blew another one". He was also very matter-of-fact with his telling, like it was just something normal they had to deal with. He could feel fucking nukes explode, yet he told it like a train was passing by his house. Just some mundane experience. And it's not like they didn't know what they were doing, though not officially. It's not like the newspapers could write about it or some official would set up at the market and make an anouncement or something.
You think they gave announcements in Nevada?
Probably not, but I have not yet met a Nevadan who was around back then.
I still think it must be very strange, at least the first few times.
Well if you are not being told what is happening…
@@BobSacamano666 I believe they did. People would watch from Las Vegas.
People that lived in Nevada could tell you the same stories.
The town of Kurchatov was named after physicist Ivan Kurchatov. The soviets also claimed to have synthesised the 104th element in the Periodic Table, which they named Kurchatovium, in 1966. It is now the element Rutherfordium.
For Rutherford Hays 😉
The Russian scientists at Dubna did eventually get to name flerovium, oganesson, and moscovium.
Believe it or not, this wasn’t the worst thing the Soviets did to Kazakhstan. Check out the Virgin Lands project and it’s aftermath to the Kazakhs after it was ended.
I think this was covered on one of Simon's other channels, Geographics if I remember rightly
The list is extensive. Aral sea, bioweapon testing, culling of leadership in 30s, destruction of traditional culture, as well as "tselina" and of course nuke tests
6:10 Very impressive that Alaska could pick up radiation signatures in that era in that remote locale.
I'm absolutely convinced that Simon must have stolen Hermione's Time Turner so he actually has time to operate and host like 9 separate channels.
I've completely lost track of the extend of his sprawling collection of channels...
He has the Beard of Holding - and in this case it refers to "holding my attention" and hence Views in service of The Algorithm.
or he's an advanced avatar controlled by an ai
We all know from Brain Blaze that he's got a few clones to help with the videos
isnt it 12 channels now?
The Polygon is just a general term russians used for "practice site". Ask any russian solider, they practiced on "the polygon" but not THAT polygon. The world polygon in english isn't polygon in russian, and don't mean the same thing.
It's the same case in Polish ... we got hundreds of polygons in Poland during Cold War ... probably thousands in USSR. So I'm giggling every time he uses it as The Polygon :).
Than its "a polygon"
By far, my favorite narrator on UA-cam. The essays are presented concisely and enjoyably. Thank you! Oh yes, the subject matter is well covered also.
The preserved stillborns from the Semipalatinsk area are like something out of a Lovecraftian fever dream.
i thought i was the only one to have seen them...... heartbreaking :(
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Stalin R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
In his house at R'lyeh dead Stalin waits dreaming.”
Similar story with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, radiation can be a horrible thing
@@samsoncooper1 it really is like getting machine gunned by atoms
Preserved in a museum??
The green light in the background gave off an eerie nuke glow vibe. And I liked it!☢️
Only noticed when I saw ur comment…agree mate
Except nuke glow is usually bright blue.
@@nirui.o you telling me Homer Simpson lied 🤥 my whole world has turned up side down
@@angryatheist I'm sure that they've tried their best to provide the best scientific information about nuclear energy in The Simpsons. But yes, there are some slight inaccuracies still. But I'll give them a pass.
Thanks!
Guy in Russian hotel: _Hey, does this mirror look funny to you?_
The mirror: _Нет_
Also. babe im going out on the balcony
Applause....
That green light is eerie, I like it!
My dad was working for the USAF at the Nevada test site in the early 50s. He would get the soil/air samples after the detonation and see what atomic elements were in them. Nothing like intense heat and pressure to create a new element for the periodic table.
Not heat and pressure.. neutron absorption usually... OL J R :)
this is becoming my favorite channel that simon hosts. i already love the darker episodes of biographics/geographics, so an entire channel devoted to dark history is perfect.
Each time I tell UA-cam to stop recommending a channel by Simon he just makes a new one and it pops up on my recommendations.
Animal and humans were used as test subjects at Marshal Islands and in Australia as well.
In fact the Australian fall out reached as far as Sydney and testing for some compounds is actually illegal in Australia until today.
There's a documentary about it, which was refused screening in Australia about 15 years ago.
We are pawns in hands of narcissistic, self obsessed old men.
You have a link on that?
Look up Maralinga.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vixen
Yeah the nuclear age brought out the worst out of tons of countries both communist and capitalist.
Nothing happens in Australia unless approval comes from the UK or US.
@@TheJadeJester
Yes.
So glad that you made this channel! It would be amazing to see a video dedicated to Vieques, a tiny island belonging to Puerto Rico. The people had to deal with America basically taking over their home and using the island to test nuclear weapons! I went there about 15 years ago and I will never forget that experience and hearing about their struggles…never learned that in history class!!!!
Belonging to Puerto Rico wich belongs to the US wich means Vieques is US soil. Im Puerto Rican by the way.
@@tombradydid9114 Maybe I didn’t word it well, but I am aware of that! 😅 I am Puerto Rican too 🇵🇷
Maybe attend school in said country instead of being suprised that countries try to hide dark pages......
Edit: School would never end if schools included everything that "wasnt taught in school"
Bombing around 30 countries with depleted uranium had infinitely larger and horrific death count. Entire male population of small town near Sarajevo died of cancer from depleted uranium dropped by (you know who does it) After bombing all factories, electrical grid and bridges in Serbia, (anything hardened was targeted with uranium jacketed bombs) cancer rates (especially children cancer) went up TEN FOLD. But Simon will not cover that, he pushes another narative 😉
Sorry to disappoint but the US never tested nuclear weapons at Vieques. It was a conventional weapons bombing and gunnery range.
One thing we know about half a century of nuclear tests and nuclear mistakes: Not even repeatedly nuking a piece of land over and over will cause giant monster cockroaches to evolve spontaneously.
Could you do similar video for the Nevada and pacific nuclear test sites? Regarding the Nevada nuke range, it's nicely shown in 3D in Google earth.
I love how you say how many miles after kilometers, I wish all videos would do that. So helpful in understanding the distance, good job
Yep, us hard-headed Americans and our abject refusal to embrace metric.
Or just learn the metric system like the rest of the world (and any professional in STEM fields). Geez, like get with the program? 🙄 Not only is it easier as it’s all multiples of 10 with obvious zero points, it’s more precise, SMFH.
It's not the most bombed place on Earth, the Nevada National Security Site is, 928 tests in total.
Yeah and now the hills have eyes bruh.
@@chaosdweller The hills have holes, lol.
lmaooo but we dont talk about the american one cuz only commies r bad lol
@@shinkikomori7386 because this isn’t about America. Whataboutism is actually cancer. We ALL get it, everyone and their mom hates America. That’s not new or productive. Also communism is absolutely worse than America. To say otherwise is to spit on the graves of millions of its victims. Not to say America is perfect but there’s a reason anyone who immigrates from communism countries to America both love America and HATE communism.
The Brits flew Canberra recon flights through some of the fall out from the early tests to collect samples for US/UK intel.
When 60 mins Australia did a story on this in the early 90's they met a boy born without eyes and found a preserved Cyclops baby at a local lab.
I grew and lived in another soviet era nuclear test site where over 12 underground nuclear tests were conducted less than 50 km from the city.
Megaprojects - Soviet Union and Nukes
Sideprojects - Soviet Union and Nukes
Into The Shadows - Soviet Union and Nukes
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Behold...staple of Simon's channels! And I love it!
Don't forget Geographics and Today I Found Out which both also have soviets and nukes.
@@radix8653 True true I watch them both too, but there's just too many to mention 😂
You forgot TopTenz, where he instead has Nukes and The Soviet Union
@@_Kirby207 haven't heard of that one lol
@@thebossman9176 are you sure is even possible to name all Simon's channels? 🤔😅
Those mystery radiation burns would have been a neutron bomb test. The point of which is to bathe the ground in heavy radiation killing people not through a pressure wave but through catastrophic radiation exposure.
I thought I knew about all of his channels but it seems like he’s creating a new one every day
"No place on earth has been nuked more often." The Nevada Test Site and its 928 nuclear tests (828 underground) with a total of 1021 nuclear explosions (921 underground) would like to have a word with you.
The thing is that there was no people exposed to radiation in comparison to Kazakhstan were 1.5 million people there were exposed to radiation and were not informed of bombs being tested
No people were exposed to radiation from the Nevada test site? Tell that to St. George, Utah.
"They nuked the animals, didn't they? They definitely did. The Semipali- Alegidly.. The Semipalitinsk Test Site...."
@Serro Bourne and a whole bunch of goats and pigs placed on the ships as biological test targets.
I got a chuckle out of this one as well.
Lol, settle petals. Nothing gets killed in a nuclear blast. Including animals, at worst they get slightly mutated, in general, it is quite theraputical, for them. To much fake information from, fictional t.v. shows. If you don't believe me, I strongly suggest you go stand in a nuclear blast radius. And feel the goodness it will bring you.
The US put sheep and rabbits and other animals on the ships at Bikini Lagoon for the first two nuclear tests after World War 2. They used rabbits, pigs, sheep, and cattle in nuclear tests in Nevada among other places. Watch "The Atomic Bomb Movie" by Peter Kuran... OL J R :)
@cherry bomb 😂😂😂😂
If you haven't already can you please cover the British test site in Australia. It is very interesting and so important to get the story of how our first nations peoples suffered from the testing.
Fascinating. Simon & crew manage to make everything they explore interesting.
Gotta say the use of green light in the background seems really appropriate for the subject matter. Good job setting the mood!
It should be bleu actually
Simon has so many channels, you can choose which video on the most nuked place you prefer to watch. Personally, I prefer the lighting in this one.
Beria, from what he personally did, I'd say he had two concerns 1) not near Moscow 2) not in Georgia
"Poligon" or "polygon" is just a general russian term for a designated restricted test site/proving ground/firing range/dump site etc. It sounds more villainy than it is.
Sometimes also "event site", as I found out. I had no idea what my Russian friends always meant when talking about "being in/on the polygon", when travelling together. And no, we did not tour old nuclear test sites....
Anything in Russian sounds more villainy than it actually is. Or sometimes just as villainous as it really is.
@@nmxsanchez not as much as in German, I'd say
@@МихаилЛевченко-с3б very true
I know in Spanish for example the word Polígono Industrial, the poligono noun just denotes an area that is designated for manufacturing almost anything made in a Polígono Industrial. In English we'd put the adjective Industrial in front of the English word denoting any area designated specifically for industrial purposes. I'm guessing there's some connection with academic town planning and zoning, but What's really interesting, from a linguistic point of view, is how we're constantly changing usage, as street languages evolve in all languages. It's staggering that it's morphed into being part of a band of travellers. See DRSNova's comment on Russian usage. A very homely and warm usage compared to an area dedicated to efficient destruction over vast areas of ground.
The Nevada National Security Site, formerly the Nevada Test Site, has been bombed way more than Semipalatinsk, over 1000 detonations in fact.
Its the American way McDonald's our way to success
I believe the actual number is nine hundred and eigh. But that's nine tenths of the way to a thousand, so no quibbles here.
@@michaelfoye1135 According to a worker at the NTS in the documentary "Atomic Journeys" there were 928 tests conducted there but I do know that there were tests involving more than one explosion so what is why I said detonations rather than tests. Just sharing, not feeling defensive.
@@davyaldy76 That's probably correct. Not that it makes much difference. So there's a small margin of error.
@@davyaldy76 Also, me too on the just sharing.
1. More test were carried out, BY FAR, in Nevada (1021 tests)
2. Semipalantinsk test site is 150km from the neareat towns in siberia., where as, the Nevada test site is only 105km. So the USSR is considerably more remote.
3. The only reason the USSR needed to spend money on develiping its nuclear capacity was DIRECTLY BECAUSE OF THE US and its extreme antisoviet, anticommunist position (a position which killed tens of millions of people around the globe in a matter of decades and destroyed many nations)
4. The USSR never intentionally nuked innocent civilian targets. Twice. The US did, and the US even speculated how many would die
I'm seeing more riffs in other videos. The blaze shall overcome.
Embrace the Blaze, fellow legend.
All hail the mighty blaze
He’s losing control
Yes.
It's all coming together as planned.
Allegedly
I think this is my new favorite channel of Simon’s
5:00 One of my dad's first adult jobs was prepping animals for radiation exposure tests. He worked on the SPR II, which was essentially a machine that moved pieces of fissile material close to each other to create a supercritical burst of neutrons, which would be used to irradiate various targets. So we're not innocent of killing animals for nuclear test purposes either. From what we know of Soviet test practices, they were less concerned with the aftereffects, but we weren't that much better.
I don’t think what happened to the animals was even a small factor into why this place was considered so destructive.
@CRAM MARC Except, unfortunately, we DID irradiate humans for test purposes. The Castle Bravo nuclear test came out at roughly 15 megatons, and while the US scientists who built it had been expecting something big, they sure as fuck weren't expecting THAT ("Jesus, Larry, did you remember to carry the three?"). Some of the inhabited islands nearby were evacuated prior to the tests, but others... weren't. The people of the Marshall Islands got some pretty fucked-up looking kids out of the deal, and while the US did eventually pay them compensation, I imagine they'd probably have traded that in for, you know, the correct number of eyes.
Castle Bravo is remembered more as an environmental disaster than a successful weapon development, and is even said to be the inspiration for the first Godzilla movie.
A notable exception to this overwhelming opinion was Nikita Kruschev, who immediately told his scientists to develop a 100 megaton bomb: they eventually managed to argue him down to a meagre 50 megaton yield, as no pilot in the Soviet Union would be willing to drop a bomb that was guaranteed to destroy the plane that carried it, and they also didn't want to unleash Cthulu. The result of this was the famous Russian Tsar Bomba test, which topped out at between 50 and 61 megatons, and marked the logical conclusion of that point in history where foreign policy was basically the equivalent of winning a board game by coming up with ever-more destructive ways of flipping the table and then showing it to the other guy.
On the plus side, the US irradiated people accidentally through negligence rather than on purpose, so there's still a little bit of high ground to stand on. I wouldn't, though - it's pretty radioactive.
Scientists sometimes lose sight of humanity and empathy, and this gets replaced with doing whatever is necessary to prove one's hypothesis, be it for profit or prestige. Science isn't about what's cruel or what isn't; it studies reality and nature isn't forgiving. How else are they supposed to make innovative discoveries that can benefit billions of lives with some small sacrifices? Would you rather the research be done on humanity? Scientists tried that, and times changed so they switched to more animal models, and now the goal is to limit animal research models with the intent of artificial replacements. Overt cruelty in the form of extended torture without total pain relief should never be allowed. However, certain animal models are necessary and I'm sure you agree that products must be safety tested and you wouldn't think it's OK to test on humans, right?
I say, limit unnecessary suffering, distress, injury, or death. However, we don't have non-animal replacements for every experiment yet, but that should some day come to fruition.
Look at the history of the peoples who lived on and around Bikini Atoll.
The US only cared when the victims were white
@@vulpes7079 Sometimes not even then - have you heard about the plutonium experiments they did on unwilling test subjects?
We have a similar place in the US, the Nevada Test Site...which pretty much exposed every resident of St. George, UT to all of its fallout.
So…the radioactive lake from the Simpsons it’s actually in Kazakhstan
The radioactive lake usually referenced is Lake Karachay, in central Russia. Didn't stop the Soviets from buggering a few others.
I'm kinda curious about the effects from US tests now. Some explosions were visible from Las Vegas. But I've only heard of the after effects from uranium mining among the Navajo.
I grew up downwind from the Nevada Test Site. As a fourth-grade child, I clearly remember the startling and ugly thought that human beings are basically savage, stupid animals that have very little wisdom or appreciation for the beauty of being alive. This also began my deep distrust of all forms of authority. If government had no concerns about showering me with poison, what else was I not being told?
1 that most of the ground water is poisoned with teflon ,2 theyve done experiments that make this look like child play 3,those in charge could give a flying rats tail about any of us .
Jesus, at least Castle Bravo was partly an honest mistake with more fuel undergoing fusion than expected. But to just plant the damn site near a town... And big ol shock that there was so much radiation. Ground bursts are really filthy in terms of radiation, with fission driven ground detonations being the absolute worst. Air bursts aren't great for your health, especially if it is a fission device, but its waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cleaner. And fusion airbursts, in terms of nukes, are like a clear stream of fresh water compared to fission ground bursts raw sewage swamps when considering how dirty a bomb was.
Yeah an honest mistake on someone else’s land…
I’d like to see a video on the Holodomor. I don’t think there’s enough light on this tragedy today. It’d be nice to see a video.
Omg ANOTHER channel Simon?
This makes me very excite.
Once, working for a large industrial firm with an aerospace group, I was sent to the corporate training center for an elite class. Prior to the class, we were given flash cards. A few of them had just latitude an longotude. When I looked these up, they were all in Khaghistan. This was, course, during the cold war.
I'm the five-eyed mutant from Semipalatinsk,
the gnarliest critter downwind from Minsk!
No longer human, I'm not a man,
I'm the five-eyed mutant from Kazakhistan!
I have a copy of the great book "Peaceful Uses for Nuclear Weapons" about the plowshare tests. It is awesome and scary.
Into the Shadows now? Im convinced Simon is going for a 51% takeover of youtube with all these projects.
The stupidity of nuclear war is clear. May all those affected find peace and justice.
Nowhere in the world they tested that many nuclear bombs? In Nevada, USA, they tested double of that
Whistleboy might not be the only person with a million different channels, but he is the only person where all million channels are totally worth watching.
Allegedly.
Such a concise and well composed presentation. The Borg Green background lighting adds an extra level of levity. 🤢
Resistance is futile.
except for some of the imagery being quite misleading.. the bandaged hand all burned up is from a criticality event with the "demon core" and the injuries from the test site were not that concentrated or severe.. thats damage from someone essentially holding nuclear fission in their hands
I hope Simon makes a video about underground nuclear tests at some point
Another amazing documentary! You make amazing content brotha. Keep up the great work! Thank you 🙏
For the love of Dad, how many channels does Simon have? Not that I'm complaining, of course
My friend served on this training ground for 2 years. he sat in a nuclear shelter for half a year and felt explosions inside. the lamps jumped and the walls shook. this is how he describes his life during the service. until now, he has health problems due to being in the contaminated zone for a long time
The callous disregard that the Soviets had for human life is staggering. This is a bit of history that needs to never be forgotten.
Yes, they provide good parallels for the terrible atrocities the Americans also did in this time.
@@shadogiant Are you fucking serious?
@@Quicksilver1936 No, No, No, he’s right. They offer great parallels in the sense that any bad thing that the US did, I can give an example of the Soviets doing the same thing but 100 to 1000 times worse. For example, upset that the US displaced the residents of Bikini Atoll, well those 160 people aren’t jack compared to the 1.5 million people that the Soviets tested on. Upset that the US accidentally killed civilians during the Vietnam War, well at least they weren’t the Chechens who were killed indiscriminately by Russians during the First and Second Russo-Chechen War, as in it was literally the Russian policy to kill civilians.
@@Quicksilver1936 He's absolutely serious. You see it was standard USSR practice to say "But in the USA - " etc to any of their crimes.
That propagandist whataboutery seeped into the West so much that Westerners will do it long after the USSR's death, and even when the USA isn't relevant to the discussion.
How is that even a competition?
_My side had a shred more humanity when they were committing atrocities_
It's the most idiotic shit I've ever heard.
Holy cow, ANOTHER youtube channel? My guy you are a busy man. I enjoy your content very much!
I thought a polygon was a reference to a dead parrot.
I'm really enjoying this channel, keep it up Simon!
Same
During the time of the USSR, there was another closed city called Kurchatov near Kursk. Kurchatov was the workers city for Kursk Nuclear Power Station / Курская АЭС
So im a published, degreed author of central asian history and id like to add two things.
Semey, the town closest to the bombings in 1919 was the center of a royalist kazakh independence movement and was to be the capital of an independent Kazakhstan. This city supported the whites against the red army in the civil war. This is not something Beria forgot when choosing where to put the testing site.
Secondly, there was fairly widespread antagonism against the test site starting in the 1960s. Various whistleblowers, activists and novelists were arrested, but the environmental protestors repeated showed up in any antisoviet demonstration, including the 1990 Almaty riots, which mobilized 60,000 people and most likely resulted in Nazarbayev becoming first president of Kazakhstan
Makes sense. Humans are nothing if not petty and vindictive.
Thanks for that information. It is something new in all of the discussions of the site. That explains a lot. Beria was famous for saying show me the man and I will show you the crime. When he said the test area was unpopulated, he meant it would be unpopulated after the test activity. Things would always be made to be true. It was unpopulated except for the test subjects.
i LOVE the lighting for Halloween Simon!
The Nevada test site had almost 1000 tests, to put things in perspective, so you might want to walk back the whole "no place nuked more" line.
The Unamed Person I’d say there are bigger claimants to that title too. Chernobyl, Fukushima, Russia’s hydrogen bomb testing range, etc.
Yeah I wouldn't take numbers from the soviet union at face value
@@TheUnamedPerson Look up the Hanford site in Washington. It's where weapons grade plutonium was first produced in the Manhattan project. It's also the most radiologically contaminated site in the US.
The Soviets were our allies up until the day we said we weren't going to share nuclear tech with them.
The scientists at Los Alamos knew that this would cause a cold war and begged the military not to do it.
Anyone who actually cares about these details would be well served to read 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb' by Richard Rhodes.
Hey simon. Can you do something about gruinard island or the so called "anthrax island" in scottland
He already has. If it's not on this channel it'll be on one of his others.
Such a wonderful story. You always have such wonderful stories
The Soviet spy program helped a lot. Communist ideas and enthusiasm were in U.S. higher education by 1920. This provided a corps of potential traitors, and dedicated Soviet handlers operated out of embassies.
What
@@thepcg4094 For the Soviet Nuke program. Japan had figured it out on their own, but were too late as the U.S. beat them to achieving functional offensive weapons.
Wtf are you smoking..lol
@@gaim44 Derek DeSolla Price.
The Chinese Communist Party is using the same tactics here in the United States now. They have set up confucius intitutes to spread their lies. Kick them out now.
Simon, you are the hardest working guy on UA-cam! I find you everywhere!
Like cowbell, life would be better with more of Simon saying allegedly.
I got a fever, allegedly. And the only cure, allegedly, is more allegedly.
Like cowbell, life would be better with more of Simon saying allegedly.”
*allegedly*
I can see the production meetings now: "Great video Simon...needs more "allegedly" though..."
Love your content mate! Keep it up
So 426 nuke tests , "nowhere on earth has been nuked more." The Nevada Test site was home to 928 nuke tests in a shorter period of time. People used to drive out into the Vegas desert to catch a glimpse of an above ground test. How is 426 greater that 928?
Perhaps measured in megatons.
@@prestonlee9965 Why not mention that then? Also 'the polygon' was ~7000 square miles as opposed to Nevada's 3500 square miles. Meaning if you want to go by megatons/mile^2 the Soviets would have had to exploded 4 time the amount in megatons the Americans did to get that 'most nuked place in the world' crown. Which is doubtful.
horseshit
Yea how this site got a feature over Yucca Flat is beyond me.
Unfortunately, Simon’s videos are often rife with errors. They are to history documentaries what fast food is to cuisine.
The British did similar tests at Maralinga in Outback South Australia, conveniently ignoring the nomadic local Aboriginals. Mistakes happened, bombs didn't explode, fallout drifted across Australia, contaminating the nearest population centres of Adelaide and Melbourne. Naturally the residents weren't told, so any damage to DNA continues to this day.
I wonder if Lucas got the idea for the Death Star labor sources from this or things like it
Not likely as the Soviet union was especially shrouded in secrecy during the late 60s and early 70s when Lucas was writing Star wars, it more likely is based upon Nazi enforced labor.
5:05 BB vibes, love it ❤️
I thought it was the islands Bikini, where the paysants got radioactivity, many died, and now are allowed to go to nearby islands to cut the grass of golf courses owned by US Companies. Now this is a legacy.
one (of many...) thing: the Chagan lake's problem isn't the watter (it is not highly radioactive), but the soil...
The rotting hand at 14:16 belonged to Harry Daghlian, after a fatal accident with the Demon Core at Los Alamos. That is a story in its own.
thats pretty misleading to use that imagery in such a circumstance... that guy held his hand inches from a burst of radiation.. no one injured from these tests looked anything like that
Well that's a dark and informative video.
Thank you!!
You said nowhere has been nuked as much? Yea, think of the Nevada test site of over 900 nukes tested.. like 45 miles away from my home.. makes me feel just fucking fantastic.
Fr? Damn.. Do you see or notice when they happen? These fucking things shouldn't exist anyways, horrible things..
@@johan9388 Naa I think it was decommissioned like 10 years ago (I could be totally wrong on the amount of years) but the fact that it’s so close to where I live and how radiation works, it’s just scary af.. I have seen some crazy air planes with weird fuckin lights and have seen it go from like a regular speed and then just vanish at least twice since I’ve lived here (like 3 months) and it’s just creepy.. who knows though.
There are many short documentary channels here on YT, and it seems like this guy is the host for like half of them
Hey Simon, please look into the history of allied prisoners of war in Germany WW2......especially the real story of "The Great Escape". I think it would be an inspiring tale of daring and courage that everyone can relate to.
Another excellent episode. Thankyou ITS team.
I remember seeing a story on 60 Minutes in the early 90s about this and there was a museum with miscarried fetuses that were horribly deformed because of the testing
Idk how this man has time to host this many channels