Russia, Karachay (lake): photos and reviews

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Karachay is a lake famous for its mystery; it is often called a terrible reservoir. It stretched for 130 thousand meters. Unfortunately, now it does not exist. On November 26, 2015, the last square meter of the area occupied by this lake was covered.

Destruction of the lake

What prompted the government to allocate about 17 billion rubles and soullessly cover the unique Karachay Lake in the Chelyabinsk region with sand? It's all about the Mayak plant, which is located in the nearby area. This plant at one time did forced, but extremely thoughtless actions. The workers threw all liquid radioactive waste into this very lake, thereby increasing the level of radiation throughout the territory. And soon disaster struck. Lake Karachay (Russia) began to shallow, the water level dropped due to evaporation. And along with it, waste also evaporated: the wind carried vapors of radioactive gases, thus three regions - Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk and Tyumen - were in great danger. The authorities decided to fill the entire area of the lake with concrete in order to protect other areas from radioactive fumes.

Reservoir name

Karachay is a lake, a detailed study of the history of which reveals an interesting fact related to the name of this reservoir. The fact is that initially it had a completely different name - Karagaysas. This is known according to the data of 1790, according to the document on land surveying. In fact, the lake was so shallow that it dried up several times and was not even marked on the map - topographers simply did not notice this reservoir and did not enter any data about it. An interesting fact: on the maps of 1936, the territory of Karachay was marked as a swamp. It is assumed that its depth did not even reach two meters. The name Karachay has survived to the present, apparently, due to censuses and land surveys, the name Karagaysas was replaced by a more sonorous and easy to remember.

The decision that killed the lake

The hard times for the lake came in 1951. It was then that a certain Slavsky announced the idea of using the reservoir as a place for the release of radioactive waste. The idea was supported. Karachay is a lake, which literally six months later became the main reservoir used to remove liquid radioactive waste. It is quite expected that soon it became the most dangerous place not only in the Chelyabinsk region, but also in the world. For the entire time of using Karachay for the above purpose, about one hundred and twenty million curies (an off-system unit of activity measurement) have accumulated in the lake, which is a huge excess of the norm and poses a real danger to humans.

Location

If we talk in more detail about where Lake Karachay is located, then it is known that it occupies the territory in the central part of the plexus of lakes Ulagach, Tatysh, Malaya Nanoga, Kyzyltash in the Chelyabinsk region. The Mishelyak River also flows nearby. And everything seems to be fine, but the lake ruined the location of the Mayak plant on its territory, from where radioactive substances were released.

The extinction of the animal world

According to some reports, it is known that the radioactive lake Karachay was the residence of ducks. So say the locals who hunted there once. You can also catch small fish there. Unfortunately, after the plant began to release liquid hazardous substances, all living things died. At the moment, a person who has stood for five minutes on the territory of Karachay will begin to experience severe nausea and poisoning, but if he stays there for an hour, even an ambulance will not save him from death.

The main problem of the lake

Karachay is a lake (photo above), which had many problems. For several years (1961-1964) the reservoir had a low water level, which resulted in the bottom being exposed in some areas. In 1961, a very strong wind rose in the territory. Radioactive substances that accumulated in the reservoir began to evaporate along with the water. It is because of this that poisonous vapors spread over great distances. As a result, not only the nature of the area was affected, but also people - according to some reports, about five hundred thousand people were poisoned. Thereaftercase, the authorities decided to completely eliminate the lake, fill it up to the state of a green lawn. We started this process in 1986. Even then, the shallow sections of the reservoir were liquidated in a short time. In the 1980s, when the climatic conditions in the area changed dramatically, the water level began to rise sharply. As a result, all work was stopped. The state began to carry out a number of processes that affected the lake and artificially lowered its water level. On November 26, 2015, it was announced that the conservation work had been completed. Now this place is an area covered with massive rocky soil and concrete blocks.

Ural Hiroshima

Tourists arriving at this lake, of course, no. Journalists from a well-known British newspaper recently stated that Karachay is the most dangerous place on the planet. And although now the area of \u200b\u200bthe entire reservoir is tightly covered with concrete, it really remains dangerous due to the large proportion of radiation in the air. Now this territory is called "Ural Hiroshima" or "Chelyabinsk Chernobyl". By the way, housing is sold there at a rather attractive price, but, alas, you can live in it for a short time.

On the example of Lake Karachay, one can understand how a person sometimes, due to his thoughtless behavior, adversely affects nature and destroys what could benefit him. It is unfortunate that such a large area is affected and will cease to pose a danger only after centuries.