Not everyone knows the River Techa, and those who know about the tragedy that occurred on it are mostly silent. Why? What happened on the banks of the Techa in the Chelyabinsk region? Is it possible to eliminate the consequences of the accident? Consider the facts.
The source of the river
The Techa River originates in Lake Irtyash, which is located in the Kasli district of the Chelyabinsk region. Further, it flows into the Iset River as a tributary , and that, in turn, is part of the Ob River basin. The leak itself is not wide and shallow. Its dimensions in width do not exceed 20 meters, and the depth is about 5 meters. For the rivers of the South Urals, it is very small, but it has three of its tributaries: these are Zyuzelga, Baskazyk and Michelyak.
The river flows near Chelyabinsk, only 50 kilometers away. Its filling is carried out only by melting snow in the spring. Like most of the watercourses familiar from the school curriculum, the Techa River forms rapids. The elevation difference on it is about 145 meters, so the rapids here are quite fast. It was on the banks of this river that a terrible tragedy occurred in the middle of the last century.
Artificial ponds
In the area of the constructed chemical plant, a whole cascade of reservoirs was created. These man-made structures were practically a separate system, which was intended for the purification of radioactive waste. In practice, because a dam connects them to the river. Four reservoirs and a network of canals were designed as sedimentation tanks for low-level liquid radioactive waste, which were to be deposited in an insoluble form at the bottom of reservoirs. But this is, so to speak, ideally. What really happened on the Tech River?
And the reality is that these reservoirs could not fully fulfill their mission. Human carelessness led to tragedy throughout the region, and today the Chelyabinsk region is practically a radioactive waste dump.
First pollution
Unfortunately, the first pollution of the Techa River occurred in 1949. At that time, plutonium production began, and the first failed experiments led to the shutdown of the evaporators at the plant, as well as to the threat of their destruction due to corrosion. It was decided not to stop production, but instead to dump high-level radioactive waste directly into the river, although the project allowed only low- and medium-level waste to be dumped into Tech. Everyone knows perfectly well that the dumping of radioactive waste, whatever it may be, is fraught with sad consequences.
From 1949 to 1956, about 76 million m
3 of radioactive waste was dumped into the river. This virtually destroyed the river’s ecosystem. Unfortunately, people living in the pollution area did not know anything about this. To date, special cards have been set up for people who lived along the banks of the river at this time, indicating the
status of life and the cause of death. Most deaths are associated with cancer, the consequences of radioactive infection.
Crashes
In 1957, a serious accident occurred at the plant - a container with highly radioactive waste exploded. Due to a combination of circumstances, due to heavy rains and heavy floods, a huge amount of radioactive waste fell into the river. In addition, decontamination carried out at that time at the plant led to even greater pollution. It was carried out by simple flushing with water of radioactive substances. So the Techa River in the Chelyabinsk region was on the verge of an environmental disaster.
As a result, severe pollution occurred in two ways. Firstly, by air, which reached almost Tyumen, and secondly, by water. Infection affected both banks of the river, and especially
Lake Karachay. Only after this accident began to build sewage treatment plants.
After 10 years, in 1967, another tragedy occurred on the shores of Lake Karachay due to dry weather. The drought caused the weathering and intense evaporation of the radioactive waste that filled the lake. As a result, a so-called radiation trail was formed.
Settlements on the banks of the Techa
The construction of dams and the formation of artificial reservoirs did not lead to an improvement in the situation. The accumulation of radioactive waste has led to the fact that the Techa River is the most contaminated river today, near which people live. Due to the secrecy of the facility and the non-disclosure of true information about the strongest pollution in the disaster area, settlements were found. Let's look at which villages surround the Techa River and what happened to them.
The closest to the constructed dams, the Muslimovo village is located 37 kilometers from them, and 165 km to the mouth of the river. The next in remoteness is the village of Brodokalmak (68 km), the village of Russkaya Techa (97 km) and the village of Nizhnepetropavlovskoye (107 km from the dams). All these villages have a terrible level of radiation, but, unfortunately, people in them continue to live and die from the terrible consequences of chronic radiation sickness. It’s hard to imagine that the Techa River, whose radiation spreads hundreds of kilometers today, was once a resting place and nourished the whole district.
Consequences of infection
To date, the effects of radiation pollution are still not eliminated. Unfortunately, they will exist for a very long time. Nature for a very long time cleared of such thoughtless pollution. The Techa River in the Chelyabinsk region today is the most dangerous place on the planet. And it's not just about dumping waste.
The created dams were completely filled with radioactive waste. The Asanovsky bogs located below the dams absorbed the same harmful substances. As a result, everything from them still flows into the Techa River. The most dangerous in this case turned out to be Lake Karachay, which is full of radiation waste. In addition, there are many more burial grounds, trenches, tanks and special storages. The whole area in the
floodplain of the river is completely infected.
Spread of infection
As everyone knows, a river cannot stand still. Where does the Techa River flow? As already mentioned, it flows into the Iset River. Thecha itself is small in length, and flows for only 243 km. Carrying infected water with her, she poisons everything around, including the river into which she flows. I must say that these waters have already been diluted, but still they cannot be completely clean, which means that the Techa River, in which radiation exceeds the permissible level by a factor of millions, pollutes other rivers.
It is scary to imagine what could happen if all of the burial sites of nuclear waste fall into it. A chain reaction will take place: Techa flows into Iset, Iset, in turn, belongs to the Tobol river basin. But Tobol flows through all of Kazakhstan and Russia and flows into the Irtysh. We won’t imagine further, it is clear to everyone that such consequences will lead to a terrible catastrophe. Talk about the good. What is being done today to save the river?
River Cleansing Activities
To date, measures have been taken to fill the floodplain of the river with soil. What does it mean? This means that the Techa River, or rather, just a few kilometers of the floodplain, received new banks. As part of the environmental program, it was decided to separate the riverbed and pour clean soil in the form of a canal. This was to exclude the access of people and animals to polluted waters. It was also planned to plant trees and shrubs along the shores to restore lost plantings.
The result of such measures was a noticeable decrease in the level of radiation. The filling of new clean soil made it possible to preserve contaminated places and sediments. These works made it possible to reduce the danger of people staying within the River Techa. The fact is that the events were held within the village and Muslimovo station in order to secure the residence of people in the area. By the example of this notorious river, one can see what the strong radiation contamination leads to.