Russia is gorgeous and can surprise all. But all ought to know that it has the most polluted place that happens to be a lake, in the world named Karachay. It is located near the town of Ozyorsk in south of Ural mountain. It has been polluted with most lethal poison as it got used as a dumping place for the radioactive refuge from the nuclear storage and production facility at Mayak, being the largest Nuclear plant in Russia.
Lake Karachai –Photo Source : Wikipedia
Mayak nuclear plant was constructed hastily ( started in 1951) right after the war without any necessary facility for the nuclear waste. No safety precaution was taken for the cooling water of the nuclear reactor was not properly secured. They used old style of cooling system every day, thus discharging and circulated water in the lake. The Russians wanted to catch up with the Americans in the field of nuclear weapons after the Hiroshima atomic bombardment in 1945. It is the most important production center of manufacturing nuclear arms in the country. No foreigner was permitted to go near the nuclear plant. Russian President Boris Yeltsin authorized foreign scientists in 1992, who declared the lake to be most polluted place in the world.
Lake Karachai –Photo Source : Wikipedia Lake Karachay, sometimes spelled Karachai or Karachaj, is a small lake in the southern Ural mountains in western Russia.
For a layman to understand, the nuclear pollution, it is explained that if one stands near the lake the radiation level, is so much that one will lose his life within an hour. As per Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C on nuclear waste, Karachay is the most polluted area on earth. The radioactive sediments deposits are 11 feet in thickness. Now,the lake is almost dried up. To control its propagation of nuclear emission, they used 10,000 hollow concrete blocks to prevent sediments from shifting.
The water of the lake has two hundred thousand times the level of radioactive element(emission) than the standard permitted. Up to 1990 the radioactive effluents were discharged into the lake. No substantial loss of life was reported as there are no humans living in the vast surrounding areas. Hope someday they will do the needful to control the situation.
