Lake Karachay: The USSR’s Deadly Nuclear Lake

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  • Опубліковано 22 гру 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-...

КОМЕНТАРІ • 1,5 тис.

  • @yourmajesty7386
    @yourmajesty7386 3 роки тому +1772

    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 3 роки тому +30

      What was life there?

    • @tomas_g8699
      @tomas_g8699 3 роки тому +39

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

    • @alexwattaul7237
      @alexwattaul7237 3 роки тому +75

      Make sure to collect on that $15 payout

    • @cowsharkdefin6376
      @cowsharkdefin6376 3 роки тому +23

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

    • @lextuomr3291
      @lextuomr3291 3 роки тому +36

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

  • @drewping2002
    @drewping2002 3 роки тому +927

    In Soviet Russia, Fallout plays YOU!

  • @derigelfisch3776
    @derigelfisch3776 3 роки тому +2529

    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 3 роки тому +45

      Lmao

    • @vonfaustien3957
      @vonfaustien3957 3 роки тому +169

      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 3 роки тому +11

      Why did you say literally before you said everyone?

    • @KPX-nl4nt
      @KPX-nl4nt 3 роки тому +34

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

    • @BackYardScience2000
      @BackYardScience2000 3 роки тому +73

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

  • @louisvanbastenbatenburg8649
    @louisvanbastenbatenburg8649 3 роки тому +1513

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

    • @michellezimmerman8019
      @michellezimmerman8019 3 роки тому +13

      That are all so good, though...

    • @shilka7020
      @shilka7020 3 роки тому +26

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

    • @samiraperi467
      @samiraperi467 3 роки тому +43

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

    • @gregparrott
      @gregparrott 3 роки тому +5

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

    • @adder3597
      @adder3597 3 роки тому +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 2 роки тому +58

    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

  • @lunagal
    @lunagal 2 роки тому +166

    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 Рік тому +14

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

    • @EyeKnowRaff
      @EyeKnowRaff 11 місяців тому

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

    • @RobertB168
      @RobertB168 10 місяців тому +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.

  • @rosiehawtrey
    @rosiehawtrey 3 роки тому +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 Рік тому +11

      A very fenced off "nature reserve".

  • @nootnoot6404
    @nootnoot6404 3 роки тому +284

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

  • @nikolairubinskii6450
    @nikolairubinskii6450 3 роки тому +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.

  • @sashakazmar6142
    @sashakazmar6142 3 роки тому +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 Рік тому +1

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

    • @rheinhardtgrafvonthiesenha8185
      @rheinhardtgrafvonthiesenha8185 Рік тому +2

      The truth is likely somewhere in the middle

    • @westzed23
      @westzed23 Рік тому +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 Рік тому +1

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

    • @superturkeylegs
      @superturkeylegs Рік тому +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.

  • @ANVofG
    @ANVofG 3 роки тому +802

    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 Рік тому +70

      What do Russians call steamed hams?

    • @baseballworldwide9439
      @baseballworldwide9439 Рік тому +5

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

    • @petere___r
      @petere___r Рік тому +12

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

    • @royalty1149
      @royalty1149 Рік тому +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 Рік тому +37

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

  • @dx1450
    @dx1450 3 роки тому +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 2 роки тому +10

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

    • @karvast5726
      @karvast5726 2 роки тому +2

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

    • @yasminout
      @yasminout 2 роки тому

      You go out there looking like Green Lantern

  • @annonannon6712
    @annonannon6712 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +6

      @UCQlyaSllGfK1nzby-QbH5LA I totally agree!

    • @humanipulationnation
      @humanipulationnation 3 роки тому +14

      ☭ fascinating fascism ☭

    • @supersportzcom
      @supersportzcom 3 роки тому +9

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

    • @Claytone-Records
      @Claytone-Records 3 роки тому +10

      Lead curtain might be more appropriate.

    • @nonnobissolum
      @nonnobissolum 3 роки тому +19

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

  • @BarkingShark
    @BarkingShark 3 роки тому +174

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

    • @namenloss730
      @namenloss730 3 роки тому +32

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

    • @momokochama1844
      @momokochama1844 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +5

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

    • @auntiejen5376
      @auntiejen5376 3 роки тому

      They wanted the bomb no matter the cost.

    • @nydra9912
      @nydra9912 3 роки тому +1

      @@auntiejen5376 dont they all?

  • @TheProtagonistDies
    @TheProtagonistDies 3 роки тому +511

    This guy was born to narrate

    • @stipe3124
      @stipe3124 3 роки тому +13

      Number of channels that he does narrate prove you are right

    • @michaelhood5221
      @michaelhood5221 3 роки тому +7

      This guy? His name is Simon

    • @birttheintern8509
      @birttheintern8509 3 роки тому +28

      @@michaelhood5221 allegedly...

    • @michaelhood5221
      @michaelhood5221 3 роки тому +5

      @@birttheintern8509 my man allegedly

    • @kirkjohnson9353
      @kirkjohnson9353 3 роки тому +24

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

  • @josephatthecoop
    @josephatthecoop 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +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 2 роки тому +5

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

  • @sixstringedthing
    @sixstringedthing 3 роки тому +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 2 роки тому +3

      And packing your bags...

    • @sixstringedthing
      @sixstringedthing 2 роки тому +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 2 роки тому +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 2 роки тому +3

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

    • @Joearebarba
      @Joearebarba 2 роки тому

      Gorky 17

  • @nikolairubinskii6450
    @nikolairubinskii6450 3 роки тому +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 10 місяців тому

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

  • @notquiteatory971
    @notquiteatory971 3 роки тому +520

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

    • @SM-pv4sn
      @SM-pv4sn 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +56

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

    • @KPX-nl4nt
      @KPX-nl4nt 3 роки тому +46

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

    • @DieFlabbergast
      @DieFlabbergast 3 роки тому +17

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

    • @ME262MKI
      @ME262MKI 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +4

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

    • @jokuvaan5175
      @jokuvaan5175 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +12

      @@jokuvaan5175 sounds like China..

    • @AverageUsernames
      @AverageUsernames 2 роки тому

      @@Jake_Hamlin A bit "better" kinda.

    • @AB-80X
      @AB-80X Рік тому

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

  • @31webseries
    @31webseries 3 роки тому +95

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

    • @rudra62
      @rudra62 2 роки тому +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.

  • @StormsparkPegasus
    @StormsparkPegasus 3 роки тому +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 2 роки тому +2

      yeah ok, i can sleep better now

    • @mrshhjj8899
      @mrshhjj8899 Рік тому +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 Рік тому

      That's utterly chilling..

    • @calebbean1384
      @calebbean1384 Рік тому +9

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

    • @mrshhjj8899
      @mrshhjj8899 Рік тому

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

  • @jasonlib1996
    @jasonlib1996 3 роки тому +18

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

  • @davidelliott5843
    @davidelliott5843 3 роки тому +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.

  • @Thaidory
    @Thaidory 2 роки тому +28

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

  • @ignitionfrn2223
    @ignitionfrn2223 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +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 2 роки тому

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

    • @dominichamilton7839
      @dominichamilton7839 Рік тому

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

  • @currentbatches6205
    @currentbatches6205 2 роки тому +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.

  • @Newt.--.Jaeden
    @Newt.--.Jaeden 3 роки тому +104

    Everytime I see something Soviet in the title I click.

    • @jeffborders5526
      @jeffborders5526 3 роки тому +13

      In Soviet Russia, things in Soviet clicks you.

    • @claudiobizama5603
      @claudiobizama5603 3 роки тому +4

      Soviet and and Nuclear
      I'm interested

    • @LuisLopez-ve5jt
      @LuisLopez-ve5jt 3 роки тому +1

      *Me sees the word Soviet in the title*: son of a bitch, I'm in!!! 😂😂😂

    • @marialiyubman
      @marialiyubman 3 роки тому +1

      Bald and bankrupt, is that you?

    • @Newt.--.Jaeden
      @Newt.--.Jaeden 3 роки тому +2

      @@marialiyubman *A Soviet Sink!*

  • @nuancedhistory9729
    @nuancedhistory9729 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +3

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

    • @nuancedhistory9729
      @nuancedhistory9729 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому

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

    • @nuancedhistory9729
      @nuancedhistory9729 3 роки тому +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 Рік тому

      @@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.

  • @critterjon4061
    @critterjon4061 3 роки тому +59

    Ah yes, forbidden swimming hole

  • @grrlpurpleable
    @grrlpurpleable 3 роки тому +137

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

    • @SyedImranTowhid
      @SyedImranTowhid 3 роки тому +17

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

    • @stanislavkostarnov2157
      @stanislavkostarnov2157 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +2

      Nuclear sub accidents?

    • @Dont_Tread_on_Me448
      @Dont_Tread_on_Me448 3 роки тому +2

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

    • @stanislavkostarnov2157
      @stanislavkostarnov2157 3 роки тому +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)

  • @demetrisswest
    @demetrisswest 9 місяців тому +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.

  • @vermas4654
    @vermas4654 3 роки тому +19

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

  • @DrMuFFinMan
    @DrMuFFinMan 2 роки тому +10

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

  • @valacarno
    @valacarno 3 роки тому +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 11 місяців тому +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

  • @markb2881
    @markb2881 3 роки тому +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 10 місяців тому

      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.

  • @harrymorris2361
    @harrymorris2361 3 роки тому +119

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

    • @d3eztrickz
      @d3eztrickz 3 роки тому +4

      Don't give him any more channel ideas! 😂

    • @EnDTh3S1L3NcE
      @EnDTh3S1L3NcE 3 роки тому +1

      As a former LOL player, too true

    • @prasunkumar117
      @prasunkumar117 3 роки тому +2

      Flaskbacks to xbox live chat from 2008-2013

    • @SRW_
      @SRW_ 2 роки тому

      Lets play raid shadow legends

  • @nahnopenopenope3406
    @nahnopenopenope3406 3 роки тому +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!

  • @chloefletcher9612
    @chloefletcher9612 2 роки тому +7

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

  • @artvandelay6306
    @artvandelay6306 3 роки тому +18

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

  • @marianpizeno8511
    @marianpizeno8511 3 роки тому +10

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

  • @jasonwright1687
    @jasonwright1687 3 роки тому +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.

  • @RGC-gn2nm
    @RGC-gn2nm 3 роки тому +55

    Soviet Russia. Holding all the beers.

  • @donaldkelly3983
    @donaldkelly3983 3 роки тому +4

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

  • @SkullKing11841
    @SkullKing11841 3 роки тому +10

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

  • @spacecadet35
    @spacecadet35 3 роки тому +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.

  • @nicholasmacnaughtan4492
    @nicholasmacnaughtan4492 3 роки тому +1

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

  • @OU8Aspark
    @OU8Aspark 2 роки тому +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 Рік тому +2

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

    • @UpperDarbyDetailing
      @UpperDarbyDetailing 5 місяців тому

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

  • @publicserviceannouncements2103
    @publicserviceannouncements2103 3 роки тому +8

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

    • @BrianC1664
      @BrianC1664 3 роки тому +1

      well, it worked on me as I missed it

  • @EK14MeV
    @EK14MeV 2 роки тому +1

    This is among your best videos. Well done.

  • @MrSleazey
    @MrSleazey 10 місяців тому +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 10 місяців тому

      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 🤢

  • @Primetiime32
    @Primetiime32 3 роки тому +3

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

  • @evegreenification
    @evegreenification 2 роки тому +4

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

  • @GameCastingMedia
    @GameCastingMedia 3 роки тому +2

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

  • @NONYABUSINESSBOZO
    @NONYABUSINESSBOZO Рік тому +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🙃🙃🙃

  • @ensignmjs7058
    @ensignmjs7058 2 роки тому +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.

  • @whatever8282828
    @whatever8282828 3 роки тому +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.

  • @clarkkent6043
    @clarkkent6043 3 роки тому

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

  • @drakewaffles2952
    @drakewaffles2952 2 роки тому

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

  • @PyroNexus22
    @PyroNexus22 3 роки тому +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.

  • @randallpetroelje3913
    @randallpetroelje3913 3 роки тому +9

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

  • @1hungrygrizzly
    @1hungrygrizzly 3 роки тому

    So glad you finally covered City 40

  • @dallasl3688
    @dallasl3688 3 роки тому +1

    Fantastic video, Simon. Horrifying, but fantastic.

  • @johncassels3475
    @johncassels3475 3 роки тому +3

    One of your better videos. Thanks.

  • @NocturnalToothbrush
    @NocturnalToothbrush 3 роки тому +73

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

    • @keith_5584
      @keith_5584 3 роки тому +4

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

    • @bstrdbss
      @bstrdbss 3 роки тому

      Not really.....

    • @keith_5584
      @keith_5584 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +2

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

    • @NocturnalToothbrush
      @NocturnalToothbrush 3 роки тому +1

      @Interesting Fives LOL So true.

  • @cillianwebster4886
    @cillianwebster4886 3 роки тому +1

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

  • @declanoleary1
    @declanoleary1 2 роки тому

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

  • @katherinegilks3880
    @katherinegilks3880 3 роки тому +3

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

  • @thejudgmentalcat
    @thejudgmentalcat 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому +2

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

    • @nealhoffman7518
      @nealhoffman7518 3 роки тому +2

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

    • @BackYardScience2000
      @BackYardScience2000 3 роки тому +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 3 роки тому

      Simonception.

    • @DerptyDerptyDUM
      @DerptyDerptyDUM 3 роки тому +1

      @@amicloud_yt Allegedly.

  • @jonathangiddings4907
    @jonathangiddings4907 10 місяців тому +1

    Brilliant video. Well done!

  • @Fkidd702
    @Fkidd702 3 роки тому +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”

  • @TonySpike
    @TonySpike 3 роки тому +4

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

  • @onyxdragon1179
    @onyxdragon1179 3 роки тому +7

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

  • @Flymochairman1
    @Flymochairman1 Рік тому +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!

  • @straswa
    @straswa 2 роки тому

    Fascinating vid, nice work.

  • @vinnyvalenti6189
    @vinnyvalenti6189 3 роки тому +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 2 роки тому

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

    • @jackfanning7952
      @jackfanning7952 2 роки тому

      @@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 2 роки тому

      @@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.

  • @joeyr7294
    @joeyr7294 3 роки тому +145

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

    • @bp420a5
      @bp420a5 3 роки тому +9

      Best comment of all time!!!!!!

    • @joeyr7294
      @joeyr7294 3 роки тому +3

      @@bp420a5 🍻

    • @humanipulationnation
      @humanipulationnation 3 роки тому +7

      Her behavior or her vagina? 😂

    • @joeyr7294
      @joeyr7294 3 роки тому +2

      @@humanipulationnation behavior lmao

    • @humanipulationnation
      @humanipulationnation 3 роки тому +3

      @@joeyr7294 I’ve had both toxicity issues sadly 🍻

  • @kennethvenezia4400
    @kennethvenezia4400 9 місяців тому +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?🙀

  • @AllDayBikes
    @AllDayBikes 3 роки тому +1

    Dammit Simon, I knew the link wasn't going to be there when you said it is. I'll go search for the MOAB myself lmao

  • @Volvith
    @Volvith 3 роки тому +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."_

  • @jayayerson8819
    @jayayerson8819 3 роки тому +20

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

  • @davedoes1298
    @davedoes1298 3 роки тому +2

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

  • @whocareswellushould135
    @whocareswellushould135 3 роки тому +1

    Very interesting and very new to me. Ty !

  • @chrisresnikoff1741
    @chrisresnikoff1741 3 роки тому +15

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

  • @baresurvivor7579
    @baresurvivor7579 3 роки тому +3

    I would love to see a video on Haida Gwaii and the history of the Haida people. There's just so little official videos on the subject of one of the earliest tribes of North America.

  • @dougalexander7204
    @dougalexander7204 2 роки тому

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

  • @theaultones5790
    @theaultones5790 3 роки тому

    Legend, Happy Blazing Simon 🙏

  • @kylekrizizke6115
    @kylekrizizke6115 3 роки тому +23

    I'm honestly surprised it took this long to talk about this.

    • @n4sc3ntbrother
      @n4sc3ntbrother 3 роки тому +3

      im pretty sure ive seen another video with him talking about it

    • @amicloud_yt
      @amicloud_yt 3 роки тому +1

      @@n4sc3ntbrother nah, must be thinking of the Aral Sea/Aralsk 7 vids

  • @RagedxxKill
    @RagedxxKill 3 роки тому +3

    Can you please do Hanford Site! I work as an engineer there and it has a very interesting history.

  • @soniacelis672
    @soniacelis672 3 роки тому

    Very interesting. Thanks for the information.

  • @ejharbet6390
    @ejharbet6390 3 роки тому +2

    Half my family live a few miles north of Kazakhstan. All kinds of heath problems

  • @sadBanker902
    @sadBanker902 3 роки тому +20

    Can we just name this The Glowing Sea

  • @tonybeaumont8289
    @tonybeaumont8289 3 роки тому +50

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

    • @MisterAndrewBuckley
      @MisterAndrewBuckley 3 роки тому +10

      Danny's getting a bit frisky

    • @tonybeaumont8289
      @tonybeaumont8289 3 роки тому +10

      @@MisterAndrewBuckley... Allegedly

    • @bigv6724
      @bigv6724 3 роки тому +7

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

    • @ABrit-bt6ce
      @ABrit-bt6ce 3 роки тому +5

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

    • @wesleymcglone6937
      @wesleymcglone6937 3 роки тому +3

      Now I can't. Cheers.

  • @barrydysert2974
    @barrydysert2974 3 роки тому +1

    Utterly fascinating! 🖖

  • @christopherjustice6411
    @christopherjustice6411 9 місяців тому +1

    American Scientists: We must be careful with this godlike power we now wield.
    Soviet Scientists: Hee hee hee, Geiger counter go “Click”

  • @thetreblerebel
    @thetreblerebel 3 роки тому +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

  • @TheEvilCommenter
    @TheEvilCommenter 3 роки тому +3

    Good video 👍

  • @ChristineCAlb1
    @ChristineCAlb1 3 роки тому +1

    Love these stories on the old Soviet Union. Keep them coming.

  • @korlashgaming8313
    @korlashgaming8313 3 роки тому +1

    WOW, I've never seen so much fuzz on Simmons head. got to hit up dollar shave club!