Techa River
Encyclopedia
The Techa River is a river on the eastern flank of the southern Ural Mountains
noted for its nuclear contamination. It is about 240 km long and its basin is 7,500 square kilometers. It begins at the formerly-secret nuclear-processing town of Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast
about 80 km northwest of Chelyabinsk
and flows northeast to Dalmatovo
on the Iset River
, a tributary of the Tobol River
. Its basin is enclosed on the southeast by that of the Miass River
, another river that flows northeast into the Iset.
From 1949 to 1956 the Mayak
complex dumped estimated at 76 million cubic meters of radioactive waste
water into the Techa River, a cumulative dispersal of 2.75MCi of radioactivity. In the 1957 Kyshtym disaster
the wind was blowing parallel to the Techa and fallout from Ozyorsk spread almost as far as Tyumen
. Today water from the upper Techa cannot be used for drinking or irrigation, but the surrounding area is thought to be fairly safe. The Mayak plant continues to dump large amounts of low, mid and high level liquid nuclear waste into the Techensky Reservoir Cascade, a series of two large nuclear waste lagoon
s. The "reservoirs" are intended to allow for continued dumping by isolating the lagoons from the Techa with cofferdams, but up to 1 million cubic feet a year of contaminated water and silt is estimated to be leaking and overflowing into the Techa every year anyway.
As many as forty villages, with a combined population of about 28,000 residents, lined the river at the time. For 24 of them, the Techa was a major source of water; 23 of them were eventually evacuated. In the past 45 years, about half a million people in the region have been irradiated in one or more of the incidents, exposing them to as much as 20 times the radiation suffered by the Chernobyl disaster
victims.
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
noted for its nuclear contamination. It is about 240 km long and its basin is 7,500 square kilometers. It begins at the formerly-secret nuclear-processing town of Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast
Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast
Ozyorsk or Ozersk is a closed town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. Population: It was founded on the shore of the Irtyash Lake in 1945...
about 80 km northwest of Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk is a city and the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the northwestern side of the oblast, south of Yekaterinburg, just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on the Miass River. Population: -History:...
and flows northeast to Dalmatovo
Dalmatovo
Dalmatovo is a town and the administrative center of Dalmatovsky District of Kurgan Oblast, Russia, located east of the Ural Mountains on the north bank of the Iset River , opposite the mouth of the Techa River, northwest of Kurgan...
on the Iset River
Iset River
Iset River is a river in Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, and Tyumen Oblasts in Russia. It rises in the Ural Mountains 25km northwest of Yekaterinburg and flows east into the Tobol River. To the north of its basin is that of Tura River and to the south, the Uy River. The length of the Iset River is...
, a tributary of the Tobol River
Tobol River
Tobol is a river in Kurgan and Tyumen Oblasts in Russia and Kazakhstan, left tributary of the Irtysh. The length of the Tobol River is 1591 km. The area of its drainage basin is 426,000 km². Average discharge at mouth is 805 m³/s. The lower reaches of the river freeze up in late October -...
. Its basin is enclosed on the southeast by that of the Miass River
Miass River
Miass River is a river on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains near Chelyabinsk. It flows mainly northeast to join the Iset River which continues northeast to join the north-flowing Tobol River which leads to the Ob River and the Arctic Ocean. Located mostly in Chelyabinsk Oblast and Kurgan...
, another river that flows northeast into the Iset.
From 1949 to 1956 the Mayak
Mayak
Mayak Production Association refers to an industrial complex that is one of the biggest nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation. It housed plutonium production reactors and a reprocessing plant...
complex dumped estimated at 76 million cubic meters of radioactive waste
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
water into the Techa River, a cumulative dispersal of 2.75MCi of radioactivity. In the 1957 Kyshtym disaster
Kyshtym disaster
The Kyshtym disaster was a radiation contamination incident that occurred on 29 September 1957 at Mayak, a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Russia...
the wind was blowing parallel to the Techa and fallout from Ozyorsk spread almost as far as Tyumen
Tyumen
Tyumen is the largest city and the administrative center of Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located on the Tura River east of Moscow. Population: Tyumen is the oldest Russian settlement in Siberia. Founded in 16th century to support Russia's eastward expansion, the city has remained one of the most...
. Today water from the upper Techa cannot be used for drinking or irrigation, but the surrounding area is thought to be fairly safe. The Mayak plant continues to dump large amounts of low, mid and high level liquid nuclear waste into the Techensky Reservoir Cascade, a series of two large nuclear waste lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
s. The "reservoirs" are intended to allow for continued dumping by isolating the lagoons from the Techa with cofferdams, but up to 1 million cubic feet a year of contaminated water and silt is estimated to be leaking and overflowing into the Techa every year anyway.
As many as forty villages, with a combined population of about 28,000 residents, lined the river at the time. For 24 of them, the Techa was a major source of water; 23 of them were eventually evacuated. In the past 45 years, about half a million people in the region have been irradiated in one or more of the incidents, exposing them to as much as 20 times the radiation suffered by the Chernobyl disaster
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
victims.
See also
- Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk OblastOzyorsk, Chelyabinsk OblastOzyorsk or Ozersk is a closed town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. Population: It was founded on the shore of the Irtyash Lake in 1945...