There is an amazing lake in Kazakhstan, in which the bottom is like melted glass. The water in it is almost black. The carp that live in it grow to a meter, and other fish are wonderful and intimidating. This is Atom-Kol, Lake Chagan in the Semipalatinsk region. Knowledgeable people try to avoid him. Those who come here by chance are surprised at the sinister beauty of this place.
Man-made miracle
Chagan Lake in Kazakhstan is the work of Soviet nuclear scientists. They proposed, through a directed nuclear explosion, to create artificial reservoirs for storing water in arid regions. As planned by scientists in Central Asia should have appeared at least forty such lakes. Thus, it was planned to solve the problem of summer drought and optimize agriculture in the Kazakh steppes. So Chagan appeared, whose capacity is 20 million cubic meters. m of water.
The time of grand accomplishments
In the Soviet Union, scientists developed ambitious projects for the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The best minds struggled to create ships, planes and even cars whose engines would work as a result of nuclear reactions. Realizing the incredible power of atomic energy, they proposed using this colossal energy to lay canals, tunnels and ponds to collect gigantic volumes of water.
The enthusiasm of physicists knew no bounds. The program was called "Peaceful Atom." In pursuit of scientific achievements, the nation did not think about the consequences for the environment and health. Impact construction and virgin land cover the entire union. Marshes were drained, rivers turned back, and new lakes formed by the will of man in the places he planned. It was a time when man did not expect favors from nature. Now he is paying for his arrogance.
First explosion
In the USSR, the first industrial explosion was carried out on January 15, 1965 in the territory of the Semipalatinsk region. At that time there was a testing ground where nuclear weapons were tested. For the experiment, a place remote from large cities in the Kazakhstan steppes was chosen.
According to the scientists' idea, a giant funnel was to be formed during the explosion, the edges and bottom of which would have to be melted from high temperature. Water will not seep into the ground from such a reservoir, and local residents will be able to use it to water livestock and to irrigate the surrounding fields.
In the area of the channel of the small Chagan rivulet, which dries in the summer, a directed explosion was made. The project was led by nuclear engineer Ivan Turchin.
Powerful explosion
An explosive device to a depth of 178 meters was laid in well No. 1004 at the Balapan site in the floodplain of the small Chaganka River. The operation was scheduled for January 15, 1965. At 5 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds GMT, a deafening explosion broke the morning silence. After 2.5 seconds, the formation of a cloud of hot gases was recorded. After only 5 minutes, it reached a height of 4800 m. 10.3 million tons of soil were thrown into the air, to a height of 950 m. Multi-ton rock formations were scattered within a radius of several tens of kilometers. The riverbed was blocked.
At the site of the explosion, a giant funnel with melted edges remained. Its diameter is 430 m, the depth exceeded 100 m. In his diaries, Turchin wrote that he did not have to observe a more beautiful sight.
Heavy bomb
An explosive device used in the creation of such an object as the Chagan atomic lake had a capacity of 170 kilotons. For comparison, a bomb with a capacity of 20 kilotons was dropped on Hiroshima. All this power lay in a cylindrical container with a diameter of 86 cm and a length of 3 m!
Lake
Already in the spring, a vehicle arrived at the site of the explosion, which connected the rivulet with the new reservoir. Scientists were aware that flood waters could carry radioactive dust to the Irtysh from the entire region and thus infect the entire Siberian region. According to the scientists, all the water should be collected in Lake Chagan. For this, a dam was poured, which did not let the river flow to the Irtysh.
In the spring, the funnel was filled with melt water, but the watering hole did not work out of the artificial reservoir - the level of radiation exceeded the norm by a factor of a thousand.
Lake Chagan in Kazakhstan exists to this day. The Chaganka River has broken a new course for itself, bypassing the death trap. Residents of the surrounding villages a side bypass a terrible place, but shepherds still drive cattle to a watering place. After all, nowhere else.
Area of infection
As a result of the explosion, after which the nuclear lake Chagan was formed, the territory was exposed to radioactive substances, in which there were 11 settlements with a population of about 2000 people.
Radiation a day after the test exceeded 30 r / h, and after 10 days reached 1 r / h. The measurements carried out at present show 2000-3000 μR / h, while the radiation level in the rest of the territory is 15-30 μR / h.
The construction of the canal employed 182 people who came from different parts of the Union. Despite the measures taken (the excavator cabins were sheathed with lead), radiation caused enormous damage to the health of young healthy men. All of them received huge doses of radiation. Each of them ended his labor shift as a deeply disabled person. Within a few years, the vast majority of them died from radiation sickness and other ailments.
When, many years later, the liquidators showed a copy of the geo-diagram, on which the data of the explosion were marked, to the specialist in geoecology E. Yakovlev, he noticed that it was worse than Chernobyl.
Lake population
When in 1966 the military and the liquidators left the test site, where an underground nuclear explosion occurred, Lake Chagan became a place for biologists to study. Since the effect of radiation on living organisms was still poorly studied, biologists conducted experiments, populating the nuclear lake with various species of flora and fauna. Often atypical for a given region. Atom-Kol biological station conducted experiments on the effects of radiation on living organisms. 36 species of fish were launched into Lake Chagan, including even piranha from the Amazon, 27 species of mollusks, 42 species of invertebrates, 32 species of amphibians, 8 mammals, 11 reptiles. In addition, experiments were carried out with 150 species of vegetation, most of which were algae.
90% of the introduced animals died due to high levels of radiation and unusual living conditions. The remaining ones were subject to mutations up to a change in the appearance of the offspring and a radical transformation of behavior. So, carp, which under normal conditions are herbivorous fish, introduced into the Chagan atomic lake (Kazakhstan), have become active predators. Here they grow to almost a meter. But eating them is strictly not recommended.
Ordinary crayfish in size resembles an oceanic yellow lobster. In the natural environment, the crossing of various species of living creatures that produced common offspring took place. Some species of animals mutated so that their descendants are neither like their ancestors nor each other.
Scientists noted that even herbivorous fish in conditions of radiation became predators. In 1974, the research station was closed.
Similar object
Chagan Lake is an echo of Soviet nuclear tests. After its formation, the leadership refused to repeat such experiments. Although it was originally planned to create a whole network of such reservoirs. But this experiment is not the only one in the world. In the United States, Nevada has the Sedan Crater, which was also formed by the explosion.
But Soviet scientists managed to increase the useful power of the explosion and minimize the harmful effects on the environment. Although, even with such “achievements”, enormous damage was inflicted on the region.
