Nobody likes to swim in a dirty pool. Personally, I don’t like swimming in lakes, streams, or any body of water where you can’t see the bottom. (How would you know if you’re swimming in something gross?)
If you’re a germaphobe, there is one lake where you needn’t worry about swimming in something diseased or slimy. That’s because this lake is so irradiated, every germ in it is probably dead.
Lake Karachay in the Urul Mountains is so polluted with nuclear waste that merely standing next to it for an hour will give you a dose of 600 roentgen (which is enough to kill you at least once). Come on in, the water is deadly!
Some parts of the lake may look deceivingly pretty, but Lake Karachay was the site of many nuclear accidents from the nearby Mayak Production Association nuclear facility. Mayak was one of Russia’s biggest nuclear facilities. Some of the accidents were nearly as devastating as the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986.
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To control the nuclear waste that was causing radiation poisoning to the people in nearby towns, the plant began pumping it into huge vats. In 1957, disaster struck. The poorly maintained storage tank full of nuclear waste exploded. The resulting radioactive cloud spread over 9,000 miles. The food supply of 300,000 people was effected.
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The plant workers did not notice any damage. They decided to collect all the waste and dump it into the lake. In 1967, a drought occurred, and the dried radioactive particles formed a toxic dust which spread all over the area for at least 900 miles, further contaminating the surrounding communities.
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Between the blast and the drought, much of the area is completely uninhabitable. It has been estimated that about one billion gallons of water has been contaminated. Many people who live there are unaware of or choose not to believe the experts’ warnings.
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(via odditycentral)
While diving into a pool of radioactivity may sound like a good origin story for a superhero, it is rarely that glamorous outside the comic books. If you ever take a trip to the Urul mountains, make sure you pack a hazmat suit along with your trunks.
