The author of this article is Robert Kędzierski, a journalist from Gazeta.pl.
An undeniable symbol of the dangers of nuclear energy is what happened in Chernobyl in 1986. Due to the reactor overheating, it led to one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century, claiming - depending on estimates - even 200,000 lives.
The USSR wanted to be like the USA. The rush would prove disastrous
Today, we know that the Chernobyl disaster could have been avoided - if only the numerous warnings indicating something was wrong hadn’t been ignored. It turns out that in the history of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, there was at least one other disaster from which lessons could have been learned. They weren’t. This refers to the Kyshtym disaster, which occurred on September 29, 1957, in Mayak. The name of the disaster comes from Soviet policies, as the nearest town to the facility was Ozyorsk, which had closed-city status, so the media used the name of Kyshtym, a much more distant town.
Before describing the dramatic events, it’s worth going back several years. After World War II, an arms race began between the USA and the USSR. The Soviet nuclear weapons development program lagged far behind the American one. That’s why the Politburo ordered the fastest possible development of uranium and plutonium production technologies. Due to political pressures, and despite the lack of experience and knowledge, the decision was made to hastily build the Mayak power plant in the Urals. The construction took place from 1945 to 1948.
The explosion lifted a 160-ton cover. A radioactive cloud hovered over the city
From the start, the authorities didn’t care about safety or the environment. Radioactive waste was dumped directly into the river. A nearby lake, used for cooling, was also contaminated. It wasn’t until 1953 that the first storage facilities for liquid nuclear waste were installed.
One of the 14 underground tanks where the waste was stored became the source of a disaster, which remained the largest until Chernobyl. A stainless steel container, buried more than eight meters deep, exploded on September 29, 1957, after 4 p.m., due to a cooling system failure. The energy released was so great that a 160-ton concrete slab covering the structure was lifted, releasing radioactive dust. A cloud rose a kilometer into the air. Witnesses reported seeing orange-red flashes in the distance. Residents of nearby villages didn’t realize that the dust settling on their buildings was deadly.
The dust spread over increasingly large areas and quickly reached nearby Ozyorsk, the closed city accessible only to those working and administering the plant. Not everyone realized that the authorities had anticipated the possibility of an explosion. The city was built "downwind" - in a location where, in the event of an explosion, most of the radioactive cloud would drift away from Ozyorsk.
There were no direct fatalities from the disaster. However, that doesn’t mean it didn’t take lives. Due to radiation sickness, 200 people died. Ten thousand people were evacuated, and nearly half a million were exposed to heightened radiation risk. The radioactive cloud traveled hundreds of kilometers within just a few hours. The authorities, as in the case of Chernobyl, did not reveal the truth to the public.
The head of the radiochemical plant and the chief engineer were blamed for the accident. They were accused of "gross violation of regulations". Despite the severe consequences of the incident, one of the worst periods in Soviet history, the culprits were "only" dismissed.
Reports of mysterious diseases and people "with skin exposing the inside of their bodies"
The West only learned the true picture of the events in the USSR in 1976. That’s when the truth was revealed by a dissident who defected to the West. In the American media, there was debate about whether the Kyshtym disaster was truly as dramatic as the defector’s account suggested.
Reports emerged of "people falling into hysteria", "unknown, mysterious diseases" and "people with skin revealing parts of their bodies". Western experts initially mocked and exaggerated the account until a Soviet molecular biology expert confirmed the details. The reluctance to acknowledge the disaster’s consequences may have been inspired by the authorities.
The CIA knew the truth. Authorities didn’t want it revealed until the "American Chernobyl"
Declassified CIA documents reveal that the agency actually knew about the incident immediately. However, it wasn’t disclosed because the Americans feared it would sabotage the emerging nuclear industry in the USA. Residents of American cities near where nuclear power plants and facilities were being built could have started protests.
The United States learned the dangers of nuclear power in 1961. That’s when the SL-1 experimental reactor in Idaho experienced a disaster. The fateful chain of events occurred after the Christmas-New Year break, during a restart operation that involved manually lifting the core to a height of about 10 cm. An inexperienced crew member raised the special tongs too high.
There was an instantaneous reaction lasting less than half a second, melting the core and releasing massive amounts of energy. According to later reports, the unlucky person who lifted the core was literally pinned to the ceiling by it. His body wasn’t recovered until many days later. Another worker standing nearby died instantly, scalded by boiling water. The third victim died in the ambulance, and the medics had to abandon both the patient and the ambulance.
In 1979, another major incident occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, where a partial meltdown of the core took place. However, an explosion was avoided.
