The Techa River in the Chelyabinsk Region

Far from all know the river Techa, and those who know about the tragedy that occurred on it, for the most part are silent. Why? What happened on the banks of the Techa in the Chelyabinsk region? Is it possible to eliminate the consequences of the accident? Let's consider the facts.

The origins of the river

The Techa River originates in Lake Irtyash, which is located in the Kasli district of the Chelyabinsk region. Further it flows like an inflow into the Iset River, and that, in turn, is part of the Ob river basin. The leak itself is not very wide and shallow. Its dimensions do not exceed 20 meters, and the depth is about 5 meters. For the rivers of the Southern Urals, it is quite small, but it has three of its own tributaries: Zyuzelga, Baskazyk and Michelyak.

The river flows not far from Chelyabinsk, just 50 kilometers away. It is filled only by melting snow in the spring. Like most people familiar with the school curriculum, the Techa River forms rapids. The difference in heights is about 145 meters, so the rapids here are quite fast. It was on the banks of this river and there was a terrible tragedy in the middle of the last century.

Artificial ponds

A whole cascade of reservoirs was created in the area of the constructed chemical plant. These artificial structures were practically a separate system, which was intended for cleaning radioactive waste. Practically - because the dam connects them with the river. Four reservoirs and a canal network were designed as sedimentation tanks for low-level liquid radioactive waste, which should have been deposited in an insoluble form on the bottom of the reservoirs. But this, so to speak, ideally. What in reality happened on the river Techa?

And the reality is that these water bodies could not fully fulfill their mission. Human carelessness has led to tragedy throughout the region, and to date the Chelyabinsk region is practically a radioactive garbage dump.

First pollution

Unfortunately, the first pollution of the Techa River occurred in 1949. At that time, the production of plutonium began, and the first failed experiments led to the stopping of the evaporators at the plant, as well as the threat of their destruction due to corrosion. It was decided not to stop production, but instead to dump highly radioactive waste directly into the river, although the project in Techa was allowed to discharge only low- and intermediate-level waste. Everybody knows perfectly well today that dumping radioactive waste, whatever they are, is fraught with sad consequences.

From 1949 to 1956, about 76 million m ^{3 of} radioactive waste was discharged into the river. This practically destroyed the ecosystem of the river. Unfortunately, people living in the pollution area knew nothing about this. At the moment, people who lived at this time along the river banks have special maps showing the status of life and the cause of death. Most lethal outcomes are associated with cancer, the consequences of radioactive contamination.

Accidents

In 1957, the plant experienced a serious accident - a container with highly radioactive waste exploded. Due to a combination of circumstances, because of heavy rains and heavy floods, a huge amount of radioactive waste got into the river. In addition, the decontamination that was taking place at the plant at that time resulted in even more pollution. It was conducted by simply washing away radioactive substances. So the river Techa in the Chelyabinsk region was on the verge of an ecological catastrophe.

As a result, the strongest pollution occurred in two ways. Firstly, by air, which reached practically to Tyumen, and secondly - by water. The infection affected both banks of the river, and especially the Karachai Lake. Only after this accident began to build a sewage treatment plant.

Ten years later, in 1967, due to the arid weather on the shores of Lake Karachay, another tragedy occurred. The drought caused weathering and strong evaporation of radioactive waste that filled the lake. As a result, a so-called radiation trail was formed.

Settlements along the banks of the Stream

The construction of dams and the formation of artificial reservoirs did not lead to an improvement in the situation. The accumulation of radioactive waste led to the fact that the river Techa - this is the most infected river to date, near which people live. Due to the secrecy of the facility and the non-disclosure of truthful information about the strongest pollution in the disaster area, settlements turned out to be. Let's look at which villages surround the Techa River and what happened to them.

The nearest to the constructed dams is the village of Muslimin located 37 kilometers from them, and to the mouth of the river - 165 km. The next in the distance - the village Brodokalmak (68 km), the village of Russian Techa (97 km) and the village of Nizhnepetropavlovskoye (107 km from the dams). In all these villages a terrible level of radiation, but, unfortunately, people in them continue to live and die from the terrible consequences of chronic radiation sickness. It is difficult to imagine that the Techa River, the radiation that is carried by hundreds of kilometers today, was once a resting place and fed the entire district.

Consequences of infection

To date, the effects of radiation pollution are still not eliminated. Unfortunately, they will exist for a very long time. The nature is very long cleared of such thoughtless pollution. The Techa River in the Chelyabinsk region today is the most dangerous place on the whole planet. And it's not just about dumping waste.

The dams were completely filled with radioactive waste. Located below the dams Asanovskie bogs absorbed all the same harmful substances. As a result, everything from them continues to flow into the Techa River. The most dangerous in this case was Lake Karachay, which is overcrowded with radiation waste. In addition, there are many burial grounds, trenches, cisterns and special storage facilities. The whole area in the floodplain is completely contaminated.

Spread of infection

As everyone knows, the river can not stand on the spot. Where does the Techa flow? As already mentioned, it flows into the Iset River. The Techa itself is small in length, and flows for a total of 243 km. Carrying contaminated water with it, it poisons everything around, including the river into which it flows. It must be said that these waters have already been diluted, but still they can not be completely clean, which means that the Techa River, whose radiation exceeds the permissible level in millions of times, pollutes other rivers.

It's scary to imagine what could happen if suddenly all the nuclear waste burials fall into it. A chain reaction will take place: The Techa flows into Iset, Iset, in turn, belongs to the Tobol river basin. And Tobol flows through the whole of Kazakhstan and Russia and flows into the Irtysh. Further, and will not be represented, it becomes clear to everyone that such consequences will lead to a terrible catastrophe. Let's talk about the good. What is being done to save the river today?

Measures to clean the river

To date, measures have been taken to fill the floodplain of the river with soil. What does it mean? This means that the river Techa, or rather, just a few kilometers of floodplain, received new shores. As part of the environmental program, it was decided to separate the riverbed and pour the clean soil into a canal. This was to exclude the access of people and animals to polluted waters. It was also planned to land on the shores of trees and shrubs to restore lost plantations.

The result of such measures was a marked decrease in the level of radiation. The deposition of a new clean soil made it possible to conserve contaminated sites and deposits. These works have made it possible to reduce the danger of people staying in the Techa River. The fact is that the events were held within the village and the Muslim station to protect people living in the area. On the example of this infamous river, one can see what leads to a strong radiation contamination.