Lake Karachay: The USSR’s Deadly Nuclear Lake

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ธ.ค. 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-...

ความคิดเห็น • 1.5K

  • @yourmajesty7386
    @yourmajesty7386 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1815

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      What was life there?

    • @tomas_g8699
      @tomas_g8699 3 ปีที่แล้ว +39

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

    • @alexwattaul7237
      @alexwattaul7237 3 ปีที่แล้ว +77

      Make sure to collect on that $15 payout

    • @cowsharkdefin6376
      @cowsharkdefin6376 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

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

    • @lextuomr3291
      @lextuomr3291 3 ปีที่แล้ว +37

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

  • @derigelfisch3776
    @derigelfisch3776 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2561

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +46

      Lmao

    • @vonfaustien3957
      @vonfaustien3957 3 ปีที่แล้ว +171

      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 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      Why did you say literally before you said everyone?

    • @KPX-nl4nt
      @KPX-nl4nt 3 ปีที่แล้ว +34

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

    • @BackYardScience2000
      @BackYardScience2000 3 ปีที่แล้ว +75

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

  • @drewping2002
    @drewping2002 3 ปีที่แล้ว +950

    In Soviet Russia, Fallout plays YOU!

  • @louisvanbastenbatenburg8649
    @louisvanbastenbatenburg8649 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1545

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

    • @michellezimmerman8019
      @michellezimmerman8019 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      That are all so good, though...

    • @black.baron_angel
      @black.baron_angel 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

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

    • @samiraperi467
      @samiraperi467 3 ปีที่แล้ว +43

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

    • @gregparrott
      @gregparrott 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

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

    • @adder3597
      @adder3597 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 3 ปีที่แล้ว +82

    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

    • @p.strobus7569
      @p.strobus7569 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Both major disasters, there was an “excursion” at the RBMK near St. Petersburg before Chernobyl. And then the Annushka reactor accident(s) and so many other “events.”

    • @ZGryphon
      @ZGryphon วันที่ผ่านมา

      Reminds me of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived the bombing of Hiroshima, then through a _superhuman_ effort of will managed to get out of the chaos of the blast zone and find his way home... to Nagasaki. (He survived that one too. Lived to be 93! Ain't life a kick in the head.)

  • @lunagal
    @lunagal 3 ปีที่แล้ว +177

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +14

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

    • @EyeKnowRaff
      @EyeKnowRaff ปีที่แล้ว

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

    • @RobertB168
      @RobertB168 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

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

  • @sashakazmar6142
    @sashakazmar6142 3 ปีที่แล้ว +266

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +1

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

    • @rheinhardtgrafvonthiesenha8185
      @rheinhardtgrafvonthiesenha8185 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      The truth is likely somewhere in the middle

    • @westzed23
      @westzed23 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +1

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

    • @superturkeylegs
      @superturkeylegs ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

  • @nikolairubinskii6450
    @nikolairubinskii6450 3 ปีที่แล้ว +72

    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.

  • @rosiehawtrey
    @rosiehawtrey 3 ปีที่แล้ว +78

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      A very fenced off "nature reserve".

    • @thomashenebry8269
      @thomashenebry8269 21 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      There were signs that said, "Radiation is good for you."

  • @nootnoot6404
    @nootnoot6404 3 ปีที่แล้ว +289

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

    • @quinnzyker6521
      @quinnzyker6521 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      They didn’t have rad away

    • @DatBoyIsAvirgin
      @DatBoyIsAvirgin 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      @@quinnzyker6521 nor rad-x to prevent it

    • @BlankMocha
      @BlankMocha 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Fallout 76 beta

    • @halfdead4566
      @halfdead4566 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      The rad sea

    • @grumpypotamus7143
      @grumpypotamus7143 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I saw this and first thought was hope they stocked up on RadAway!

  • @annonannon6712
    @annonannon6712 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @UCQlyaSllGfK1nzby-QbH5LA I totally agree!

    • @humanipulationnation
      @humanipulationnation 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      ☭ fascinating fascism ☭

    • @supersportzcom
      @supersportzcom 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

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

    • @Claytone-Records
      @Claytone-Records 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Lead curtain might be more appropriate.

    • @nonnobissolum
      @nonnobissolum 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

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

  • @ANVofG
    @ANVofG 3 ปีที่แล้ว +853

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +77

      What do Russians call steamed hams?

    • @baseballworldwide9439
      @baseballworldwide9439 ปีที่แล้ว +5

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

    • @petere___r
      @petere___r ปีที่แล้ว +13

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

    • @royalty1149
      @royalty1149 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      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 ปีที่แล้ว +38

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

  • @TheProtagonistDies
    @TheProtagonistDies 3 ปีที่แล้ว +513

    This guy was born to narrate

    • @stipe3124
      @stipe3124 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      Number of channels that he does narrate prove you are right

    • @michaelhood5221
      @michaelhood5221 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      This guy? His name is Simon

    • @birttheintern8509
      @birttheintern8509 3 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      @@michaelhood5221 allegedly...

    • @michaelhood5221
      @michaelhood5221 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@birttheintern8509 my man allegedly

    • @kirkjohnson9353
      @kirkjohnson9353 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

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

  • @BarkingShark
    @BarkingShark 3 ปีที่แล้ว +177

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

    • @namenloss730
      @namenloss730 3 ปีที่แล้ว +33

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

    • @momokochama1844
      @momokochama1844 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

      @@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 ปีที่แล้ว +5

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

    • @auntiejen5376
      @auntiejen5376 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      They wanted the bomb no matter the cost.

    • @nydra9912
      @nydra9912 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@auntiejen5376 dont they all?

  • @josephatthecoop
    @josephatthecoop 3 ปีที่แล้ว +486

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +50

      @@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 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +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 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +90

    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 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      And packing your bags...

    • @sixstringedthing
      @sixstringedthing 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@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 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      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 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

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

    • @Joearebarba
      @Joearebarba 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Gorky 17

  • @nikolairubinskii6450
    @nikolairubinskii6450 3 ปีที่แล้ว +49

    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 ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @QueenetBowie
    @QueenetBowie 3 ปีที่แล้ว +301

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

    • @jokuvaan5175
      @jokuvaan5175 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      @@jokuvaan5175 sounds like China..

    • @AverageUsernames
      @AverageUsernames 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Jake_Hamlin A bit "better" kinda.

    • @AB-80X
      @AB-80X ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @dx1450
    @dx1450 3 ปีที่แล้ว +90

    "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 ปีที่แล้ว +11

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

    • @karvast5726
      @karvast5726 2 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว

      You go out there looking like Green Lantern

  • @demetrisswest
    @demetrisswest 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    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.

  • @notquiteatory971
    @notquiteatory971 3 ปีที่แล้ว +521

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

    • @SM-pv4sn
      @SM-pv4sn 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +56

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

    • @KPX-nl4nt
      @KPX-nl4nt 3 ปีที่แล้ว +46

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

    • @DieFlabbergast
      @DieFlabbergast 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

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

    • @ME262MKI
      @ME262MKI 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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

  • @ignitionfrn2223
    @ignitionfrn2223 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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

  • @StormsparkPegasus
    @StormsparkPegasus 3 ปีที่แล้ว +169

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      yeah ok, i can sleep better now

    • @mrshhjj8899
      @mrshhjj8899 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว

      That's utterly chilling..

    • @calebbean1384
      @calebbean1384 ปีที่แล้ว +10

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

    • @mrshhjj8899
      @mrshhjj8899 ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @31webseries
    @31webseries 3 ปีที่แล้ว +99

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

    • @rudra62
      @rudra62 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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.

  • @jasonlib1996
    @jasonlib1996 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

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

  • @davidelliott5843
    @davidelliott5843 3 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    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.

  • @jacobhuff3748
    @jacobhuff3748 3 ปีที่แล้ว +80

    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 ปีที่แล้ว

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

    • @dominichamilton7839
      @dominichamilton7839 ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @Thaidory
    @Thaidory 2 ปีที่แล้ว +29

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

    • @frtzkng
      @frtzkng 14 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Given _those_ levels of radiation, nothing would live in that lake anymore

  • @DrMuFFinMan
    @DrMuFFinMan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

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

  • @critterjon4061
    @critterjon4061 3 ปีที่แล้ว +59

    Ah yes, forbidden swimming hole

    • @Mr_Roboto
      @Mr_Roboto วันที่ผ่านมา

      Congratulations! For swimming in the "Pool of Doom", your superpower is...Megacancer!

  • @Newt.--.Jaeden
    @Newt.--.Jaeden 3 ปีที่แล้ว +103

    Everytime I see something Soviet in the title I click.

    • @jeffborders5526
      @jeffborders5526 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      In Soviet Russia, things in Soviet clicks you.

    • @claudiobizama5603
      @claudiobizama5603 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Soviet and and Nuclear
      I'm interested

    • @LuisLopez-ve5jt
      @LuisLopez-ve5jt 3 ปีที่แล้ว

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

    • @marialiyubman
      @marialiyubman 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Bald and bankrupt, is that you?

    • @Newt.--.Jaeden
      @Newt.--.Jaeden 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@marialiyubman *A Soviet Sink!*

  • @currentbatches6205
    @currentbatches6205 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

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

  • @vermas4654
    @vermas4654 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

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

  • @grrlpurpleable
    @grrlpurpleable 3 ปีที่แล้ว +138

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

    • @SyedImranTowhid
      @SyedImranTowhid 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

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

    • @stanislavkostarnov2157
      @stanislavkostarnov2157 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Nuclear sub accidents?

    • @Dont_Tread_on_Me448
      @Dont_Tread_on_Me448 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

    • @stanislavkostarnov2157
      @stanislavkostarnov2157 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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)

  • @nuancedhistory
    @nuancedhistory 3 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    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 ปีที่แล้ว +3

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

    • @nuancedhistory
      @nuancedhistory 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว

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

    • @nuancedhistory
      @nuancedhistory 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@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.

  • @chloefletcher9612
    @chloefletcher9612 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

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

  • @artvandelay6306
    @artvandelay6306 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

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

  • @valacarno
    @valacarno 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +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

  • @harrymorris2361
    @harrymorris2361 3 ปีที่แล้ว +121

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

    • @d3eztrickz
      @d3eztrickz 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Don't give him any more channel ideas! 😂

    • @EnDTh3S1L3NcE
      @EnDTh3S1L3NcE 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      As a former LOL player, too true

    • @prasunkumar117
      @prasunkumar117 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Flaskbacks to xbox live chat from 2008-2013

    • @SRW_
      @SRW_ 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Lets play raid shadow legends

  • @donaldkelly3983
    @donaldkelly3983 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

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

  • @markb2881
    @markb2881 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    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 ปีที่แล้ว

      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.

  • @marianpizeno8511
    @marianpizeno8511 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

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

  • @nahnopenopenope3406
    @nahnopenopenope3406 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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!

  • @SkullKing11841
    @SkullKing11841 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

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

  • @evegreenification
    @evegreenification 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

  • @whatever8282828
    @whatever8282828 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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.

  • @spacecadet35
    @spacecadet35 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

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

  • @jasonwright1687
    @jasonwright1687 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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.

  • @PyroNexus22
    @PyroNexus22 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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.

  • @Primetiime32
    @Primetiime32 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

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

  • @EK14MeV
    @EK14MeV 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This is among your best videos. Well done.

  • @OU8Aspark
    @OU8Aspark 2 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

    • @UpperDarbyDetailing
      @UpperDarbyDetailing 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

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

  • @ensignmjs7058
    @ensignmjs7058 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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.

  • @randallpetroelje3913
    @randallpetroelje3913 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

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

  • @drakewaffles2952
    @drakewaffles2952 2 ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @nicholasmacnaughtan4492
    @nicholasmacnaughtan4492 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

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

  • @johncassels3475
    @johncassels3475 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    One of your better videos. Thanks.

  • @RGC-gn2nm
    @RGC-gn2nm 3 ปีที่แล้ว +55

    Soviet Russia. Holding all the beers.

    • @crf80fdarkdays
      @crf80fdarkdays 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      In soviet Russia, beer holds you

  • @dallasl3688
    @dallasl3688 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Fantastic video, Simon. Horrifying, but fantastic.

  • @GameCastingMedia
    @GameCastingMedia 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

  • @publicserviceannouncements2103
    @publicserviceannouncements2103 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

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

    • @BrianC1664
      @BrianC1664 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      well, it worked on me as I missed it

  • @MrSleazey
    @MrSleazey 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +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 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      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 🤢

  • @NONYABUSINESSBOZO
    @NONYABUSINESSBOZO ปีที่แล้ว +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🙃🙃🙃

  • @jonathangiddings4907
    @jonathangiddings4907 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Brilliant video. Well done!

  • @fr34k0o
    @fr34k0o 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    "Joseph Stalin, second leader of the Soviet Union, died on 5 March 1953 at his Kuntsevo Dacha after suffering a stroke, at age 74"

  • @NocturnalToothbrush
    @NocturnalToothbrush 3 ปีที่แล้ว +73

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

    • @keith_5584
      @keith_5584 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

    • @bstrdbss
      @bstrdbss 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Not really.....

    • @keith_5584
      @keith_5584 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

    • @NocturnalToothbrush
      @NocturnalToothbrush 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @Interesting Fives LOL So true.

  • @clarkkent6043
    @clarkkent6043 3 ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @1hungrygrizzly
    @1hungrygrizzly 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    So glad you finally covered City 40

  • @chrisresnikoff1741
    @chrisresnikoff1741 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

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

  • @TonySpike
    @TonySpike 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

  • @declanoleary1
    @declanoleary1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @katherinegilks3880
    @katherinegilks3880 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

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

  • @thejudgmentalcat
    @thejudgmentalcat 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

    • @nealhoffman7518
      @nealhoffman7518 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

    • @BackYardScience2000
      @BackYardScience2000 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 ปีที่แล้ว

      Simonception.

    • @DerptyDerptyDUM
      @DerptyDerptyDUM 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@amicloud_yt Allegedly.

  • @jayayerson8819
    @jayayerson8819 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

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

  • @cillianwebster4886
    @cillianwebster4886 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

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

  • @whocareswellushould135
    @whocareswellushould135 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Very interesting and very new to me. Ty !

  • @joeyr7294
    @joeyr7294 3 ปีที่แล้ว +145

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

    • @bp420a5
      @bp420a5 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Best comment of all time!!!!!!

    • @joeyr7294
      @joeyr7294 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@bp420a5 🍻

    • @humanipulationnation
      @humanipulationnation 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Her behavior or her vagina? 😂

    • @joeyr7294
      @joeyr7294 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@humanipulationnation behavior lmao

    • @humanipulationnation
      @humanipulationnation 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

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

  • @TheEvilCommenter
    @TheEvilCommenter 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Good video 👍

  • @Fkidd702
    @Fkidd702 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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”

  • @Straswa
    @Straswa 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating vid, nice work.

  • @onyxdragon1179
    @onyxdragon1179 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

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

  • @TheLandBeyond_Productions
    @TheLandBeyond_Productions 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Don’t drink the spicy water guys

  • @soniacelis672
    @soniacelis672 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting. Thanks for the information.

  • @Flymochairman1
    @Flymochairman1 ปีที่แล้ว +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!

  • @thetreblerebel
    @thetreblerebel 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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

  • @sadBanker902
    @sadBanker902 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Can we just name this The Glowing Sea

  • @Mirthandirxiii
    @Mirthandirxiii 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very engaging. Well done.

  • @KelpieMindTricks
    @KelpieMindTricks 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great content. Thank you.

  • @kylekrizizke6115
    @kylekrizizke6115 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

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

    • @n4sc3ntbrother
      @n4sc3ntbrother 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

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

    • @amicloud_yt
      @amicloud_yt 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

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

  • @vinnyvalenti6189
    @vinnyvalenti6189 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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 3 ปีที่แล้ว

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

    • @jackfanning7952
      @jackfanning7952 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@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 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@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.

  • @theaultones5790
    @theaultones5790 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Legend, Happy Blazing Simon 🙏

  • @barrydysert2974
    @barrydysert2974 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Utterly fascinating! 🖖

  • @normac.1953
    @normac.1953 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Merry Christmas 🎅 ! Everyone stay safe!

  • @baresurvivor7579
    @baresurvivor7579 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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.

  • @AllDayBikes
    @AllDayBikes 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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

  • @davedoes1298
    @davedoes1298 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

  • @enqrbit
    @enqrbit 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

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

    • @OppenMinerDev
      @OppenMinerDev 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Smarter everyday: L A M I N A R F L O W

    • @somethinglikethat2176
      @somethinglikethat2176 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Lame memes: youtube

    • @AR15Si
      @AR15Si 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Plainly Difficult: Nuclear disasters

  • @Volvith
    @Volvith 3 ปีที่แล้ว +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."_

  • @dougalexander7204
    @dougalexander7204 3 ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @kennethvenezia4400
    @kennethvenezia4400 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +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?🙀