Kyshtym Mayak: The 2nd Worst Nuclear Disaster in Soviet History

Those pesky Soviets are playing with their nuclear toys again.

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Source/Further reading:

The Kyshtym Complex, CIA and DIA reports

The Sungul Institute

General Vlasov

Overviews of the Disaster

CIA Declassified reports on the accident

The Hanford nuclear site

Kyshtym today/Later contamination

Radiation units

Safety of Nuclear Plants

[vladimirpanov]

This bloody disaster took the life of my granddad who worked there. Cancer. He survived the WW2 but not the Mayak. One of many thousands and completely forgotten now. Thank you for reminding the world about it, Simon

[nightwyrm]

USSR: Don't worry about Chernobyl, we have experience with cleaning up after major nuclear disasters.

Rest of world: Wait, what.

[zapfanzapfan]

The more I learn about the Soviet Union the more amazed I get that anyone survived in it...

[dingo]

Secrecy above safety seemed to be very much the order of the day in nuclear weapons development. The US exposed its population to fallout from tests, the UK covered up Windscale contamination. But the Soviets really took the prize.

[c.l.]

Imagine all the other Soviet disaster we haven't heard about yet.

[devunit]

I used to live near Hanford. In fact, I had a science teacher in middle school that regularly volunteered there during the summer. She was even told by the U.S. Government that she was not allowed to go to Russia on vacation, or else she'd lose total access to the site for life.

[mihit]

In the USSR, you do not consume nuclear energy, nuclear energy consumes you.

[fullmetaljacket]

The Mayak disaster was covered in a book called “Midnight in Chernobyl.” Would recommend anyone interested to check it out.

[thefrecklepuny]

"Fishermen have reported catching fish with no eyes and no fins..."
"Whereas in Springfield..."

[plisskenationbackfromthede]

Messed up that we only found out about the mayak disaster after chernobyl when the ussr said it had experience in radioactive cleanup and had to prove it

[talldrinkofmarmalade]

Geographies: releases a new video
Me: cool
It’s a Soviet catastrophe
Me: real shit?

[kingkeurig]

I split a gut laughing at "that continues to be mostly true as long as the government involved is not the USSR." Simon, I LOVE how you incorporate humor into your videos.

[lordpumpkinhead]

Three words that history has taught us never go together: Soviets and Nuclear Power.

[tristanplatts]

I had never heard of this prior to the video. I’m curious how many nuclear disasters there have been.

[vincentlake]

I enjoy bouncing around these videos because Simon’s beard either disappears or grows more glorious than ever. Also, really enjoying the casual criminalist podcast! Keep them coming!

[jacob]

IAEA: "Nuclear Power Plants are among the safest, and most secure, sources of power in the world."

Addendum: "Unless those power plants happen to be constructed in the USSR. In which case... God help us all."

[garyb]

Don'y let the US off the hook. Hanford is an extremely large problem that is not talked about enough

[alexs]

Americans: "a nuclear disaster"
Soviets: "our nuclear disaster"

[Daydreaminginmono]

"The fox mulder of the urals". The soviet files lol

[emmareiman]

Ah, the 'Death Prigade' reminds me of the cleaners up North
The ones who were sent to clean the nuclear mess somewhere near Murmansk. I can't remember the exact names of places, but I do remember the some of the story of it. The main thing is that there was a house (blackened and looking very worn out) in which the nuclear waste rods were being kept in, but they hadn't been secured too well so they had just, fallen, inside the pool, and become a huge mess. This mess was covered by a sheet of metal of some sort. And one unfortunate day one of the workers falls through the sheet into the pool - and it feels like hell. The man was saved however as another brave worker dove after him in a split second to try and retrieve him. Both men survived the experience and were then locked away for months on end because they had received quite the doze of radiation

Would love to see you cover this incident~ It seriously could be made into a movie