Lake Karachay
Lake Karachay
You would die after spending one hour at this lake. Don’t believe me? Well, you might not know about this lake called Lake Karachay. Based in Russia, the lake is so contaminated due to the nearby nuclear sites that it is noted to be the most polluted place on the planet. The Soviet Union used the lake as a discarding site for radioactive waste from the Mayak facility, Ozyorsk. At present, the lake is completely is filled with concrete in order to keep radioactive deposits way from the edge.
| Name | Lake Karachay |
| Other names | Karachai, Karachaj |
| Origin | 1951 |
| Country / Location | Ural mountains, Russia |
| Famous for | most dangerous lake in world |
Facts about Lake Karachay
- In Several Northwestern Turkic languages, Karachay means “black water” or “black sea”.
- In the year 1990, the contamination got to the point where it could kill a person standing at the shore just in an hour. In an hour, it could give a radiation dose of 600 roentgen.
- People came to know about the Russian Government using the lake as a dumping area after the nuclear facilities Mayak’s truth was unfolded as it was kept a secret until 1990. By the time the nuclear site’ being was authoritatively acknowledged, people had already starting to experience the effects of the lake. In the surrounding region of Chelyabinsk, an increase of 21 percent was noticed in cancer occurrence. Birth defects were amplified by 25 percent, whereas a 41 percent raise in leukemia was seen.
- The Techa River, which was a supply source of water to nearby villages, was so tainted that up to 65 percent of locals fell ill with radiation sickness.
- One of the plus points to the site is, lakefront property is most likely really, cheap.
- Since the radiation premises were top secret, even doctors weren’t permitted to bring up radiation in their diagnosis. They named the sickness as a special disease.
- The upstream water of Techa River is still undrinkable as well as the riverbanks will be dangerous for hundreds of years.
- To the surprise of the reader, even after ruining the lives of thousands of people Mayak nuclear facility is still around. It had its operating license revoke temporarily in 2003 for throwing away radioactive waste into open water.
- The lake was used for the intention of dumping radioactive waste until the Kyshtym Disaster in 1957.
